Generalized Poincaré algebras and Lovelock–Cartan gravity theory

We show that the Lagrangian for Lovelock–Cartan gravity theory can be reformulated as an action which leads to General Relativity in a certain limit. In odd dimensions the Lagrangian leads to a Chern–Simons theory invariant under the generalized Poincaré algebra B2n+1, while in even dimensions the L...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: P.K. Concha, D.M. Peñafiel, E.K. Rodríguez, P. Salgado
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2015-03-01
Series:Physics Letters B
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269315000489
Description
Summary:We show that the Lagrangian for Lovelock–Cartan gravity theory can be reformulated as an action which leads to General Relativity in a certain limit. In odd dimensions the Lagrangian leads to a Chern–Simons theory invariant under the generalized Poincaré algebra B2n+1, while in even dimensions the Lagrangian leads to a Born–Infeld theory invariant under a subalgebra of the B2n+1 algebra. It is also shown that torsion may occur explicitly in the Lagrangian leading to new torsional Lagrangians, which are related to the Chern–Pontryagin character for the B2n+1 group.
ISSN:0370-2693