Palatini Gauss-Bonnet theory

Abstract

We consider a class of models in even spacetime dimensions $2n$ which share many similarities with Chern-Simons theories in odd spacetime dimensions $2n+1$. The independent dynamical variables of these models are a $GL(2n)$-connection and a metric in internal space. The action is a polynomial of degree $n$ in the curvature of the connection, with indices saturated by means of the metric and the Levi-Civita tensor. We show that the theory has no local degree of freedom in $2$ spacetime dimensions ($n=1$), where it can be reformulated as a constrained $BF$ model, but that its dynamics is more intrincate in higher dimensions ($n>1$), where local degrees of freedom are present. We treat in detail the cases of $2$ and $4$ spacetime dimensions.}