Related papers: The Lanczos potential and Chern-Simons theory
An attempt is made to uncover the physical meaning and significance of the obscure Lanczos tensor field which is regarded as a potential of the Weyl field. Despite being a fundamental building block of any metric theory of gravity, the…
The well-noted correspondence between gravitation and electrodynamics emphasizes the importance of the Lanczos tensor -- the potential of the Weyl tensor -- which is an inherent structural element of any metric theory of gravity formulated…
The field equations of general relativity can be written as first order differential equations in the Weyl tensor, the Weyl tensor in turn can be written as a first order differential equation in a three index tensor called the Lanczos…
The Lanczos potential for the Weyl tensor is derived from a quadratic curvature Lagrangian by making use of the exterior algebra of forms and the variational principles with constraints.
In all dimensions and arbitrary signature, we demonstrate the existence of a new local potential -- a double (2,3)-form -- for the Weyl curvature tensor, and more generally for all tensors with the symmetry properties of the Weyl curvature…
Starting with three dimensional Chern--Simons theory with gauge group $Sl(N,R)$, we derive an action $S_{cov}$ invariant under both left and right $W_N$ transformations. We give an interpretation of $S_{cov}$ in terms of anomalies, and…
The Lanczos potential $L_{abc}$ acts as a tensor potential for the spin-2 field strength $W_{abcd}$ in an role similar to that of the vector potential $A_a$ for the Maxwell tensor $F_{ab}$. After some general considerations inspired by the…
In the last few years renewed interest in the 3-tensor potential $L_{abc} $ proposed by Lanczos for the Weyl curvature tensor has not only clarified and corrected Lanczos's original work, but generalised the concept in a number of ways. In…
A new object, called the velocity tensor, is introduced. It allows to formulate a generally covariant mechanics. Some properties of the velocity tensor are derived.
We introduce a new Weyl-invariant and generally-covariant vector-tensor theory with higher derivatives. This theory can be induced by extending the mimetic construction to vector fields of conformal weight four. We demonstrate that in…
Chern--Simons type Lagrangians in $d=3$ dimensions are analyzed from the point of view of their covariance and globality. We use the transgression formula to find out a new fully covariant and global Lagrangian for Chern--Simons gravity:…
We consider theories describing the dynamics of a four-dimensional metric, whose Lagrangian is diffeomorphism invariant and depends at most on second derivatives of the metric. Imposing degeneracy conditions we find a set of Lagrangians…
The general seven-dimensional maximal supergravity is presented. Its universal Lagrangian is described in terms of an embedding tensor which can be characterized group-theoretically. The theory generically combines vector, two-form and…
The Chern-Simons (CS) theory in three dimensions with a compact gauge group G is studied. Starting from the BRST quantization of the theory defined in R^3, the values of gauge invariants observables are computed in any closed and orientable…
This is intended as a broad introduction to Chern-Simons gravity and supergravity. The motivation for these theories lies in the desire to have a gauge invariant system --with a fiber bundle formulation-- in more than three dimensions,…
Tensor networks prepare states that share many features of states in quantum gravity. However, standard constructions are not diffeomorphism invariant and do not support an algebra of non-commuting area operators. Recently, analogues of…
In three-dimensional pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, the Cotton tensor arises as the variation of the gravitational Chern-Simons action with respect to the metric. It is Weyl-covariant, symmetric, traceless and covariantly conserved.…
We present a general analysis of gauge invariant, exact and metric independent forms which can be constructed using higher rank field-strength tensors. The integrals of these forms over the corresponding space-time coordinates provides new…
The holographic Weyl anomaly associated to Chern-Simons gravity in 2n+1 dimensions is proportional to the Euler term in 2n dimensions, with no contributions from the Weyl tensor. We compute the holographic energy-momentum tensor associated…
We consider inclusion of interactions between 3d Einstein gravity and the third order extensions of Chern-Simons. Once the gravity is minimally included into the third order vector field equations, the theory is shown to admit a…