Towards a no hair theorem for higher order gravity

Abstract

We use gravitational Lagrangians $R \Box \sp k R \sqrt{-g}$ and linear combinations of them; we ask under which circumstances the de Sitter space-time represents an attractor solution in the set of spatially flat Friedman models. Results are: For arbitrary $k$, i.e., for arbitrarily large order of the field equation, on can always find examples where the attractor property takes place. Such examples necessarily need a non-vanishing $R\sp 2$-term. The main formulas do not depend on the dimension, so one gets similar results also for 1+1-dimensional gravity and for Kaluza-Klein cosmology.