6D interpretation of 3D gravity

We show that 3D gravity, in its pure connection formulation, admits a natural 6D interpretation. The 3D field equations for the connection are equivalent to 6D Hitchin equations for the Chern–Simons 3-form in the total space of the principal bundle over the 3-dimensional base. Turning this construct...

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Main Authors: Herfray, Yannick, Krasnov, Kirill, Scarinci, Carlos
Format: Article
Published: IOP Publishing 2017
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42669/
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author Herfray, Yannick
Krasnov, Kirill
Scarinci, Carlos
author_facet Herfray, Yannick
Krasnov, Kirill
Scarinci, Carlos
author_sort Herfray, Yannick
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We show that 3D gravity, in its pure connection formulation, admits a natural 6D interpretation. The 3D field equations for the connection are equivalent to 6D Hitchin equations for the Chern–Simons 3-form in the total space of the principal bundle over the 3-dimensional base. Turning this construction around one gets an explanation of why the pure connection formulation of 3D gravity exists. More generally, we interpret 3D gravity as the dimensional reduction of the 6D Hitchin theory. To this end, we show that any $\text{SU}(2)$ invariant closed 3-form in the total space of the principal $\text{SU}(2)$ bundle can be parametrised by a connection together with a 2-form field on the base. The dimensional reduction of the 6D Hitchin theory then gives rise to 3D gravity coupled to a topological 2-form field.
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spelling nottingham-426692020-05-04T18:29:38Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42669/ 6D interpretation of 3D gravity Herfray, Yannick Krasnov, Kirill Scarinci, Carlos We show that 3D gravity, in its pure connection formulation, admits a natural 6D interpretation. The 3D field equations for the connection are equivalent to 6D Hitchin equations for the Chern–Simons 3-form in the total space of the principal bundle over the 3-dimensional base. Turning this construction around one gets an explanation of why the pure connection formulation of 3D gravity exists. More generally, we interpret 3D gravity as the dimensional reduction of the 6D Hitchin theory. To this end, we show that any $\text{SU}(2)$ invariant closed 3-form in the total space of the principal $\text{SU}(2)$ bundle can be parametrised by a connection together with a 2-form field on the base. The dimensional reduction of the 6D Hitchin theory then gives rise to 3D gravity coupled to a topological 2-form field. IOP Publishing 2017-01-24 Article PeerReviewed Herfray, Yannick, Krasnov, Kirill and Scarinci, Carlos (2017) 6D interpretation of 3D gravity. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 34 (4). ISSN 1361-6382 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6382/aa5727 doi:10.1088/1361-6382/aa5727 doi:10.1088/1361-6382/aa5727
spellingShingle Herfray, Yannick
Krasnov, Kirill
Scarinci, Carlos
6D interpretation of 3D gravity
title 6D interpretation of 3D gravity
title_full 6D interpretation of 3D gravity
title_fullStr 6D interpretation of 3D gravity
title_full_unstemmed 6D interpretation of 3D gravity
title_short 6D interpretation of 3D gravity
title_sort 6d interpretation of 3d gravity
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42669/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42669/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/42669/