Related papers: Topological gravity in dimensions two and four
A classical two dimensional theory of gravity which has a number of interesting features (including a Newtonian limit, black holes and gravitational collapse) is quantized using conformal field theoretic techniques. The critical dimension…
We construct a topological field theory which, on the one hand, generalizes BF theories in that there is non-trivial coupling to `topological matter fields'; and, on the other, generalizes the three-dimensional model of Carlip and Gegenberg…
Self-dual gravity is a diffeomorphism invariant theory in four dimensions that describes two propagating polarisations of the graviton and has a negative mass dimension coupling constant. Nevertheless, this theory is not only renormalisable…
It is argued that quantum gravity has an interpretation as a topological field theory provided a certain constraint from the path intergral measure is respected. The constraint forces us to couple gauge and matter fields to gravity for…
The physics of quantum gravity is discussed within the framework of topological quantum field theory. Some of the principles are illustrated with examples taken from theories in which space-time is three dimensional.
In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity drastically simplifies, becoming a ``topological'' theory with no propagating local degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, many of the difficult conceptual problems of quantizing gravity are…
A theory of topological gravity is a homotopy-theoretic representation of the Segal-Tillmann topologification of a two-category with cobordisms as morphisms. This note describes a relatively accessible example of such a thing, suggested by…
We develop a Born-Infeld type theory for gravity in any dimension. We show that in four dimensions our formalism allows a self-dual (or anti-self dual) Born-Infeld gravity description. Moreover, we show that such a self-dual action is…
In three spacetime dimensions, general relativity becomes a topological field theory, whose dynamics can be largely described holographically by a two-dimensional conformal field theory at the ``boundary'' of spacetime. I review what is…
We propose a formulation of gravity theory in the form of a field theory in a flat space-time with a number of dimensions greater than four. Configurations of the field under consideration describe the splitting of this space-time into a…
The free (4,0) superconformal theory in 6 dimensions and its toroidal dimensional reductions are studied. The reduction to four dimensions on a 2-torus has an $SL(2,\Z)$ duality symmetry that acts non-trivially on the linearised gravity…
We calculate the genus 2 correlation functions of two-dimensional topological gravity, in a background with two primary fields, using the genus 2 topological recursion relations.
Despite their diversity, many of the most prominent candidate theories of quantum gravity share the property to be effectively lower-dimensional at small scales. In particular, dimension two plays a fundamental role in the finiteness of…
Topological gravity is equivalent to physical gravity in two dimensions in a way that is still mysterious, though by now it has been proved by Kontsevich. In this paper it is shown that a similar relation between topological and physical…
Supergravity theory in $2+\epsilon$ dimensions is studied. It is invariant under supertransformations in 2 and 3 dimensions. One-loop divergence is explicitly computed in the background field method and a nontrivial fixed point is found. In…
The massive topologically and self dual theories en seven dimensions are considered. The local duality between these theories is established and the dimensional reduction lead to the different dualities for massive antisymmetric fields in…
Conformally-invariant and pure, scale-invariant theories of gravity are particularly interesting in four or higher dimensions. Yet, in contrast to their four-dimensional counterparts, theories in higher dimensions are significantly more…
We formulate a topological theory in six dimensions with gauge group SO(3,3) which reduces to gravity on a four dimensional defect if suitable boundary conditions are chosen. In such a framework we implement the reflection automorphism of…
Starting from a topological gauge theory in two dimensions with symmetry groups $ISO(2,1)$, $SO(2,1)$ and $SO(1,2)$ we construct a model for gravity with non-trivial coupling to matter. We discuss the equations of motion which are connected…
Topological quantum field theories containing matter fields are constructed by twisting $N=2$ supersymmetric quantum field theories. It is shown that $N=2$ chiral (antichiral) multiplets lead to topological sigma models while $N=2$ twisted…