SU(2) gauge theory of gravity with topological invariants

Abstract

The most general gravity Lagrangian in four dimensions contains three topological densities, namely Nieh-Yan, Pontryagin and Euler, in addition to the Hilbert-Palatini term. We set up a Hamiltonian formulation based on this Lagrangian. The resulting canonical theory depends on three parameters which are coefficients of these terms and is shown to admit a real SU(2) gauge theoretic interpretation with a set of seven first-class constraints. Thus, in addition to the Newton's constant, the theory of gravity contains three (topological) coupling constants, which might have non-trivial imports in the quantum theory.

Based on a talk at Loops-11, Madrid, Spain; To appear in Journal of Physics: Conference Series

References in corpus (3)

• Topological Interpretation of Barbero-Immirzi Parameter
• Topological parameters in gravity
• The Immirzi Parameter as an Instanton Angle

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Some cosmological models coming from gravitational theories having torsional degrees of freedom
• Gravity Asymptotics with Topological Parameters
• Torsional instanton effects in quantum gravity
• Dark Energy from Topology
• Is the Cosmological Constant of Topological Origin?
• Dark Energy From The Gravity Vacuum
• A topological origin for Dark Energy