A covariant formalism for Chern Simons gravity

Physics Letters B, 2009

Chern-Simons models for gravity are interesting because they provide with a truly gauge-invariant action principle in the fiber-bundle sense. So far, their main drawback has largely been the perceived remoteness from standard General Relativity, based on the presence of higher powers of the curvature in the Lagrangian (except, remarkably, for threedimensional spacetime). Here we report on a simple model that suggests a mechanism by which standard General Relativity in five-dimensional spacetime may indeed emerge at a special critical point in the space of couplings, where additional degrees of freedom and corresponding "anomalous" Gauss-Bonnet constraints drop out from the Chern-Simons action. To achieve this result, both the Lie algebra g and the symmetric g-invariant tensor that define the Chern-Simons Lagrangian are constructed by means of the Lie algebra S-expansion method with a suitable finite abelian semigroup S. The results are generalized to arbitrary odd dimensions, and the possible extension to the case of eleven-dimensional supergravity is briefly discussed.

Journal of Physics A-mathematical and Theoretical, 2012

We show that the so-called semi-simple extended Poincaré (SSEP) algebra in D dimensions can be obtained from the anti-de Sitter algebra by means of the S-expansion procedure with an appropriate semigroup S. A general prescription is given for computing Casimir operators for S-expanded algebras, and the method is exemplified for the SSEP algebra. The S-expansion method also allows us to

General Relativity and Gravitation, 2013

We propose a generalization of Chern-Simons (CS) modified gravity in first-order formalism. CS modified gravity action has a term that comes from the chiral anomaly which is Pontryagin invariant. First-order CS modified gravity is a torsional theory and in a space-time with torsion the chiral anomaly includes a torsional topological term called Nieh-Yan invariant. We generalize the CS modified gravity by adding the Nieh-Yan term to the action and find the effective theory. We compare the generalized theory with the first-order CS modified gravity and comment on the similarities and differences.

International Journal of Geometric Methods in Modern Physics, 2006

We investigate the covariant formulation of Chern-Simons theories in a general odd dimension which can be obtained by introducing a vacuum connection field as a reference. Field equations, Nöther currents and superpotentials are computed so that results are easily compared with the wellknown results in dimension 3. Finally we use this covariant formulation of Chern-Simons theories to investigate their relation with topological BF theories.

Journal of High Energy Physics, 2019

We consider AdS 3 N-extended Chern-Simons supergravity (à la Achucarro-Townsend) and we study its gauge symmetries. We promote those gauge symmetries to a BRST symmetry and we perform its quantization by choosing suitable gauge-fixings. The resulting quantum theories have different features which we discuss in the present work. In particular, we show that a special choice of the gauge-fixing correctly reproduces the Ansatz by Alvarez, Valenzuela and Zanelli for the graphene fermion.

Nuclear Physics B, 2009

We consider Chern-Simons theories for the Poincaré, de Sitter and anti-de Sitter groups in three dimensions which generalise the Chern-Simons formulation of 3d gravity. We determine conditions under which κ-Poincaré symmetry and its de Sitter and anti-de Sitter analogues can be associated to these theories as quantised symmetries. Assuming the usual form of those symmetries, with a timelike vector as deformation parameter, we find that such an association is possible only in the de Sitter case, and that the associated Chern-Simons action is not the gravitational one. Although the resulting theory and 3d gravity have the same equations of motion for the gauge field, they are not equivalent, even classically, since they differ in their symplectic structure and the coupling to matter. We deduce that κ-Poincaré symmetry is not associated to either classical or quantum gravity in three dimensions. Starting from the (non-gravitational) Chern-Simons action we explain how to construct a multi-particle model which is invariant under the classical analogue of κ-de Sitter symmetry, and carry out the first steps in that construction.

Il Nuovo Cimento B, 1994

We present a second-order gravity action which consists of ordinary Einstein action augmented by a first-order, vectorlike, Chern-Simons quasitopological term. This theory is ghost-free and propagates a pure spin-2 mode. It is diffeomorphism invariant, although its local Lorentz invariance has been spontaneously broken.