Metastable gravity on classical defects

Abstract

We discuss the realization of metastable gravity on classical defects in infinite-volume extra dimensions. In dilatonic Einstein gravity, it is found that the existence of metastable gravity on the defect core requires violation of the Dominant Energy Condition for codimension Nc = 2 defects. This is illustrated with a detailed analysis of a six-dimensional hyperstring minimally coupled to dilaton gravity. We present the general conditions under which a codimension Nc > 2 defect admits metastable modes, and find that they differ from lower codimensional models in that, under certain conditions, they do not require violation of energy conditions to support quasi-localized gravity.