Observational Viability and Stability of Nonlocal Cosmology

Abstract: We show that a class of nonlocal gravity models, proposed to explain current cosmic acceleration without dark energy, passes two major tests: First, they can be defined so as not to alter the, observationally correct, general relativity predictions for gravitationally bound systems. Second, they are stable, ghost-free, with no additional excitations beyond those of general relativity. In this they differ from their, ghostful, localized versions. The systems' initial value constraints are the same as in general relativity, and our nonlocal modifications never convert the original gravitons into ghosts.