The regular state in higher order gravity

We consider the higher-order gravity theory derived from the quadratic Lagrangian R + ϵR² in vacuum as a first-order (ADM-type) system with constraints, and build time developments of solutions of an initial value formulation of the theory. We show that all such solutions, if analytic, contain the right number of free functions to qualify as general solutions of the theory. We further show that any regular analytic solution which satisfies the constraints and the evolution equations can be given in the form of an asymptotic formal power series expansion.