Gravitational field of a straight cosmic string in the framework of higher-derivative gravity

The gravitational properties of a straight cosmic string are studied in the linear approximation of higher-derivative gravity. These properties are shown to be very different from those found using linearized Einstein gravity: there exists a short range gravitational (anti-gravitational) force in the nonrelativistic limit; in addition, the derection angle of a light ray moving in a plane orthogonal to the string depends on the impact parameter.FAPERJ-BrazilFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)CNPq-Brazi