Ghost-free non-local $F(R)$ Gravity Compatible with ACT

Abstract

We confront the ghost-free non-local $F(R)$ gravity theories with the latest Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) constraints on the spectral index of the scalar perturbations and the updated constraints of Planck/BICEP on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. After reviewing how the ghost-free non-local version of $F(R)$ gravity can be obtained, we show that the de Sitter solution can be obtained in this framework. Also, we show that the resulting theory can be cast in terms of an $F(R,\phi)$ theory of gravity. We analyze two models of non-local $F(R)$ gravity, one power-law and the $R^2$ model, and we show that both models can be compatible with the ACT and updated Planck/BICEP constraints.