The bimetric theory of gravitation with a dynamic background metric

We study the bimetric theory of gravitation with background metric _ik. In contrast to the accepted point of view, in which _ik, is a metric given a priori, we assume that _ik is a dynamic variable determined from the condition that the total action of the gravitating system must be an extremum. As a result it turns out that (1) _ik can be described by the Einstein equation in space-time with the metric _ik and (2) the energy-momentum tensor of the graviational field _ik, is the source of _ik. In this sense _ik can be considered a secondary field in relation to g_ik. We determine the conditions for existence of integral covariant conservation laws. Two of the latter have no analogs in the theory with the background metric given a priori.Translated fromAstrofizika, Vol. 37, No. 3, 1994.The author is grateful to the participants in the seminar of the Department of Theoretical Physics at Erevan State University, and also to W. Bleier, K. A. Bronnikov, V. N. Mel'nikov, and G. Yu. Treder for discussions and valuable remarks. The investigations presented in this paper were partly financed by the International Scientific Fund, grant Ph1-262-0902.