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Mathematical Validity of the f(R) Theory of Modified Gravity

We establish a well-posedness theory for the f(R) theory of modified gravity, which is a generalization of Einstein's theory of gravitation. The scalar curvature R of the spacetime, which arises in the integrand of the Einstein-Hilbert functional, is replaced by a function f=f(R). The field equations involve up to fourth-order derivatives of the spacetime metric, and the challenge is to understand the structure of these high-order terms. We propose a formulation of the initial value problem in modified gravity when the initial data are prescribed on a hypersurface. In addition to the induced metric and second fundamental form of the initial slice and the initial matter content, an initial data set must also provide the spacetime scalar curvature and its time-derivative. We introduce an augmented conformal formulation, as we call it, in which the spacetime curvature is an independent variable. In the so-called wave gauge, the field equations of modified gravity reduce a coupled system of nonlinear wave-Klein-Gordon equations with defocusing potential, whose unknowns are the conformally-transformed metric and the scalar curvature, as well as the matter fields. We are able to establish the existence of maximal globally hyperbolic developments when the matter is represented by a scalar field. We analyze the so-called Jordan coupling and work with the Einstein metric, which is conformally equivalent to the physical metric --the conformal factor depending upon the scalar curvature. Our analysis leads us to a rigorous validation of the theory of modified gravity. We derive quantitative estimates, which are uniform in terms of the nonlinearity f(R), and we prove that asymptotically flat spacetimes of modified gravity are `close' to Einstein spacetimes, when the function f(R) in the action functional of modified gravity is `close' to the Einstein-Hilbert integrand R.