Parameterized post-Newtonian formalism for multimetric gravity

Abstract

We discuss the post-Newtonian limit of multimetric gravity theories with $N \geq 2$ metric tensors and a corresponding number of standard model copies, and construct an extension of the parameterized post-Newtonian (PPN) formalism. This extended formalism allows a characterization of multimetric gravity theories by a set of constant parameters. The multimetric PPN parameters we derive are a superset of the standard PPN parameters, which have been measured using high-precision experiments in the solar system. We apply our formalism to a class of theories which we previously discussed in the context of cosmology and gravitational waves, and which feature an accelerating expansion of the universe. A comparison between our results and the measured PPN parameters shows that multimetric gravity is fully compatible with solar system observations.

37 pages, no figures, journal version