We study the role of field redefinitions in general scalar-tensor theories. In particular, we first focus on the class of field redefinitions linear in the spin-2 field and involving derivatives of the spin-0 mode, generically known as disformal transformations. We start by defining the action of a disformal transformation in the tangent space. Then, we take advantage of the great economy of means of the language of differential forms to compute the full transformation of Horndeski’s theory under general disformal transformations. We obtain that Horndeski’s action maps onto itself modulo a reduced set of non-Horndeski Lagrangians. These new Lagrangians are found to be invariant under disformal transformation that depend only in the first derivatives of the scalar. Moreover, these combinations of Lagrangians precisely appear when expressing in our basis the constraints of the recently proposed extended scalar-tensor theories. These results allow us to classify the different orbits of scalar-tensor theories invariant under particular disformal transformations, namely, the special disformal, kinetic disformal, and disformal Horndeski orbits. In addition, we consider generalizations of this framework. We find that there are possible well-defined extended disformal transformations that have not been considered in the literature. However, they generically cannot link Horndeski theory with extended scalar-tensor theories. Finally, we study further generalizations in which extra fields with different spin are included. These field redefinitions can be used to connect different gravity theories such as multiscalar-tensor theories, generalized Proca theories, and bigravity. We discuss how the formalism of differential forms could be useful for future developments in these lines.

• Received 2 February 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084039