Generalized galileons for particle physics and cosmology

Abstract

In this brief article, I summarize attempts with collaborators over the last couple of years to extend the Galileon idea in two important ways. I discuss the effective field theory construction arising from co-dimension greater than one flat branes embedded in a flat background - the multi-Galileons - and then describe symmetric covariant versions of the Galileons, more suitable for general cosmological applications. These generalized Galileons can be thought of as interesting four-dimensional field theories in their own rights, but the work described here may also make it easier to embed them into higher dimensional theories. I also briefly mention some intriguing properties, including freedom from ghosts and a non-renormalization theorem, that hint at possible applications in particle physics and cosmology.