Resolving the Ghost Problem in non-Linear Massive Gravity

TL;DR

It is shown that, in the entire two-parameter family of actions, the Hamiltonian constraint is maintained at the complete nonlinear level and this implies the absence of the pathological Boulware-Deser ghost to all orders.

Abstract

We analyze the ghost issue in the recently proposed models of non-linear massive gravity in the ADM formalism. We show that, in the entire two-parameter family of actions, the Hamiltonian constraint is maintained at the complete non-linear level and we argue for the existence of a non-trivial secondary constraint. This implies the absence of the pathological Boulware-Deser ghost to all orders. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the existence of a consistent theory of massive gravity at the complete non-linear level, in four dimensions.