Gravity From Topological Field Theory

Abstract

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 to arbitrary dimensional manifolds. Like the three dimensional model, the theory can be considered to describe a gravitational field interacting with topological matter. In particular, in two dimensions, the model is that of gravity on a torus. In four dimensions, the model is shown to admit constant curvature black hole solutions.