Abstract
We give a detailed account of the cyclic L∞-algebra formulation of general relativity with a cosmological constant in the Einstein-Cartan-Palatini formalism on spacetimes of arbitrary dimension and signature, which encompasses all symmetries, field equations, and Noether identities of gravity without matter fields. We present a local formulation as well as a global covariant framework, and an explicit isomorphism between the two L∞-algebras in the case of parallelizable spacetimes. By duality, we show that our L∞-algebras describe the complete Batalin-Vilkovisky-Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin formulation of Einstein-Cartan-Palatini gravity. We give a general description of how to extend on-shell redundant symmetries in topological gauge theories to off-shell correspondences between symmetries in terms of quasi-isomorphisms of L∞-algebras. We use this to extend the on-shell equivalence between gravity and Chern-Simons theory in three dimensions to an explicit L∞-quasi-isomorphism between differential graded Lie algebras, which applies off-shell and for degenerate dynamical metrics. In contrast, we show that there is no morphism between the L∞-algebra underlying gravity and the differential graded Lie algebra governing BF theory in four dimensions.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 112502 |
Journal | Journal of Mathematical Physics |
Volume | 61 |
Issue number | 11 |
Early online date | 6 Nov 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2020 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
- Mathematical Physics