Second-Order Formalism for 3D Spin-3 Gravity

TL;DR

This paper develops a second-order formalism for 3D spin-3 gravity by solving torsion-free conditions and introducing new fields and connections, providing a more tractable approach compared to the first-order Chern-Simons formulation.

Contribution

It introduces a second-order formalism for 3D spin-3 gravity, including new affine-like connections and a generalized Riemann tensor, overcoming difficulties in the first-order approach.

Findings

Derived explicit transformation rules under generalized diffeomorphisms

Expressed the action in terms of a generalized Riemann tensor

Connected new affine connections to the spin connection via gauge transformations

Abstract

A second-order formalism for the theory of 3D spin-3 gravity is considered. Such a formalism is obtained by solving the torsion-free condition for the spin connection \omega^a_{\mu}, and substituting the result into the action integral. In the first-order formalism of the spin-3 gravity defined in terms of SL(3,R) X SL(3,R) Chern-Simons (CS) theory, however, the generalized torsion-free condition cannot be easily solved for the spin connection, because the vielbein e^a_{\mu} itself is not invertible. To circumvent this problem, extra vielbein-like fields e^a_{\mu\nu} are introduced as a functional of e^a_{\mu}. New set of affine-like connections \Gamma_{\mu M}^N are defined in terms of the metric-like fields, and a generalization of the Riemann curvature tensor is also presented. In terms of this generalized Riemann tensor the action integral in the second-order formalism is expressed. The transformation rules of the metric and the spin-3 gauge field under the generalized diffeomorphims are obtained explicitly. As in Einstein gravity, the new affine-like connections are related to the spin connection by a certain gauge transformation, and a gravitational CS term expressed in terms of the new connections is also presented.