Trace-free Einstein gravity as two interacting constrained $BF$ theories

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Hauptverfasser: Montesinos, Merced, Gonzalez, Diego
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Montesinos, Merced
Gonzalez, Diego
author_facet Montesinos, Merced
Gonzalez, Diego
contents A theory of gravity alternative to general relativity is trace-free Einstein gravity, which has the remarkable property that the cosmological constant emerges as an integration constant. In this paper, we report two fully diffeomorphism-invariant actions for trace-free Einstein gravity. They describe the theory as two $BF$ theories supplemented with some constraints. The first action comprises two copies of the constrained $BF$ theory for the Husain-Kuchař model plus an interaction term involving the fields that impose the constraints on the $B$ fields. The second action employs two copies of the chiral Plebanski action for general relativity plus an additional constraint. Both actions use complex variables, and naturally include one of the reality conditions imposed in the Plebanski formulation of general relativity. The new actions have the advantage of not involving any nondynamical fields or unimodular condition, and their only gravitational sector is trace-free Einstein gravity.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_11948
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Trace-free Einstein gravity as two interacting constrained $BF$ theories
Montesinos, Merced
Gonzalez, Diego
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
A theory of gravity alternative to general relativity is trace-free Einstein gravity, which has the remarkable property that the cosmological constant emerges as an integration constant. In this paper, we report two fully diffeomorphism-invariant actions for trace-free Einstein gravity. They describe the theory as two $BF$ theories supplemented with some constraints. The first action comprises two copies of the constrained $BF$ theory for the Husain-Kuchař model plus an interaction term involving the fields that impose the constraints on the $B$ fields. The second action employs two copies of the chiral Plebanski action for general relativity plus an additional constraint. Both actions use complex variables, and naturally include one of the reality conditions imposed in the Plebanski formulation of general relativity. The new actions have the advantage of not involving any nondynamical fields or unimodular condition, and their only gravitational sector is trace-free Einstein gravity.
title Trace-free Einstein gravity as two interacting constrained $BF$ theories
topic General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.11948