Gauge connection formulations for general relativity

We report a new class of $SO(3,\mathbb{C})$ and diffeomorphism invariant formulations for general relativity with either a vanishing or a nonvanishing cosmological constant, which depends functionally on a $SO(3,\mathbb{C})$ gauge connection and a complex-valued 4-form via a holomorphic function of the trace of a symmetric $3\times3$ matrix that is constructed from these variables. We present two members of this class, one of which results from the implementation of a method for obtaining action principles belonging to the class. For the case of a nonvanishing cosmological constant, we solve for the complex-valued 4-form and get pure connection action principles. We perform the canonical analysis of the class. The analysis shows that only the Hamiltonian constraint is modified with respect to the Ashtekar formulation and that the members of the class have two physical degrees of freedom per space point.