Matter scattering in $R_{μν}^2$ gravity and unitarity

Abstract: We investigate the ultraviolet (UV) behavior of two-scalar elastic scattering with graviton exchanges in higher curvature gravity theory. In the Einstein gravity, matter scattering is shown not to satisfy tree unitarity at high energy. Among a few possible directions to cure unitarity (i.e. UV completion of Einstein gravity), string theory, modified gravity, inclusion of high-mass/high-spin states, we take $R_{\mu\nu}^2$ gravity coupled to matter. We show that the matter scattering with graviton interactions satisfies the unitarity bound at high energy, in contrast with the Einstein gravity. The difference in unitarity property of the two gravity theories is due to that in the UV behavior of the propagator and is probably connected to that in another UV property, namely renormalizability property of the two.