Effective Lagrangian from Higher Curvature Terms: Absence of vDVZ Discontinuity in AdS Space

Abstract

We argue that the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity arising in the $M^2 \to 0$ limit of the massive graviton through an explicit Pauli-Fierz mass term could be absent in anti de Sitter space. This is possible if the graviton can acquire mass spontaneously from the higher curvature terms or/and the massless limit $M^2\to 0$ is attained faster than the cosmological constant $Λ\to 0$. We discuss the effects of higher-curvature couplings and of an explicit cosmological term ($Λ$) on stability of such continuity and of massive excitations.