# References

## Abstract

Three dimensional Euclidean gravity in the dreibein-spin connection formalism is investigated. We use the monopole-instanton ansatz for the dreibein and the spin connection. The equations of motion are solved. We point out a two dimensional solution with a vanishing action.

Dec 18, 1998 (.)

UMN-TH-1732/98 , TPI-MINN-98/28-T

Monopole-Instanton Type Solutions   
In 3D Gravity   
Bayram Tekin<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1e-mail: tekin@mnhepw.hep.umn.edu   

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota   
Minneapolis, MN 55455, U.S.A.   

PACS: 04.20.-q , 04.60.-m

Keywords: Gravity, Instantons

2+1 dimensional gravity is an interesting model which carries some features of the 3+1 dimensional general relativity. This model has been studied in the literature in great detail with many different approaches  . Although there are no physical degrees of freedom and there is not a proper Newtonian limit  , i.e. two static masses experience no force, three dimensional gravity is still far from being trivial. Bañados, Teitelboim and Zanelli showed that there exists a solution which looks like the 3+1 dimensional black hole . BTZ black hole has an event horizon and its thermodynamic properties resemble those of the “realistic” black hole. Unlike the four dimensional case, three dimensional black hole can not have a curvature singularity at the origin. But one can still study many classical and quantum properties of the 3+1 dimensional black hole through the BZT solution.

Pure gravity (with or without cosmological constant) was shown to be equivalent to Chern-Simons theory . This equivalence led Witten  to prove that the theory is quantizable and renormalizable. In the Achúcarro-Townsend-Witten formulation one combines the dreibein and the spin connection into a single gauge field whose dynamics is governed by the Chern-Simons Lagrangian.

Conformal Weyl tensor vanishes in 2+1 dimensions and the Riemann tensor is determined by the Ricci tensor. The solutions to the Einstein’s equations consist of flat spaces. In this letter we will be interested in the spaces with vanishing cosmological constant. The existence of non-trivial global geometry makes flat spaces interesting to study.

In the path integral formulation of gravity , in the saddle point approximation, one is interested in the finite action solutions to the Euclidean equations of motion. Our purpose is to find monopole-instanton type solutions for Euclidean gravity with zero cosmological constant. We use the monopole ansatz for both the spin connection and the dreibein which are assumed to be independent fields. In the metric formulation of gravity metric has to be non-degenerate. In the dreibein-spin connection formalism dreibein need not be invertible. So one can obtain degenerate metrics. We adopt the later formalism. The results of our work depend on this crucial difference. We would like to stress that the non-invertibility of the dreibein is not unnatural if the spin connection and the dreibein are independent fields . In fact Witten  shows that to make sense of the quantum theory of gravity one needs non-invertible dreibeins.

In three dimensions the Einstein-Hilbert action can be written the following form 

$`S_{EH}={\displaystyle \frac{1}{16\pi G}}{\displaystyle _{}}d^3xϵ^{ijk}\eta _{ab}e_i^aR_{kj}^b`$ (1)   
where $`e_i^a`$ is the dreibein and $`R_{ij}^a`$ is the Riemann tensor. The indices $`(a,b,c)`$ denote the local Lorentz frame and $`(i,j,k)`$ are the non-inertial frame indices. The metrics , $`\eta _{ab}`$ and $`g_{ij}`$ have Euclidean signature. Explicitly the Riemann tensor is

$`R_{kj}^a=_kw_j^a_jw_k^a+ϵ_{bc}^aw_k^bw_j^c`$ (2)   
We have used the fact that in three dimensions one can treat the dreibein and the dual of the spin connection as the fundamental fields. The dual of the spin connection is a one form defined through $`w^a=\frac{1}{2}ϵ^{abc}w_{bc}`$.

The symmetry group of the theory is $`GL(3,R)\times SO(3)`$. The first factor refers to the general coordinate transformations ,i.e. $`xx^{}(x)`$ which are realized by the fields in the following way.

$`e_i^a^{}(x^{})={\displaystyle \frac{x^j}{x^i}}e_j^a(x)w_i^a^{}(x^{})={\displaystyle \frac{x^j}{x^i}}w_j^a(x)`$ (3)   
$`SO(3)`$ is the group of local Lorentz rotations under which the fields transform in the following way.

$`e_i^a^{}(x)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_b^a(x)e_i^b(x)w_i^a^{}(x)=\mathrm{\Lambda }_b^a(x)w_i^b(x)`$ (4)   
$`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is an element of $`SO(3)`$. It is clear that $`R_{kj}^a`$ transform as a tensor under $`GL(3,R)`$ and as a vector under $`SO(3)`$. One should observe that unlike the case of non-Abelian Chern-Simons theory the constant multiplying the action is not quantized. $`G`$ has the dimension of length.

At the classical level the main question is to find the manifolds which minimize the action $`S_{EH}`$. Equations of motion can be obtained by varying the action with respect to the dreibein and the spin connection. In doing so one obtains

$`ϵ^{ijk}_ie_j^a+ϵ^{ijk}ϵ_{bc}^ae_i^bw_j^c=0`$   
$`ϵ^{ijk}R_{jk}^a=0`$ (5)   
The first equation is the torsion free condition and the second equation is analogous to Einstein equation in four dimensions. Since there are no matter fields and the cosmological constant is zero the 3D universe is flat. We would like to point out that invertibility of the dreibein is not required.

We are interested in the solutions where the dreibein and the spin connection are of the monopole type.

$`e_j^a(\stackrel{}{x})={\displaystyle \frac{G}{r}}\left[ϵ_{jk}^a\widehat{x}^k\varphi _1+\delta _j^a\varphi _2+(rA\varphi _2)\widehat{x}^a\widehat{x}_j\right]`$ (6)   
$`w_j^a(\stackrel{}{x})={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}\left[ϵ_{jk}^a\widehat{x}^k(1\psi _1)+\delta _j^a\psi _2+(rB\psi _2)\widehat{x}^a\widehat{x}_j\right]`$ (7)   
The functions $`A`$, $`B`$, $`\varphi _i`$ and $`\psi _i`$ depend on $`r`$ only. Writing the first term in the dreibein as above simplifies the action and the equations of motion. The constant $`G`$ is included in the definition of the dreibein to keep the dreibein dimensionless. It is clear that the monopole ansatz breaks $`GL(3,R)\times SO(3)`$ to $`SO(3)`$. Inserting the spin connection in equation (2) one obtains the Riemann tensor for the monopole ansatz.

$`R_{ij}^a`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r^2}}ϵ_{ijb}\widehat{x}^a\widehat{x}^b(\psi _1^2+\psi _2^21)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}(ϵ_{ij}^aϵ_{ijb}\widehat{x}^a\widehat{x}^b)(\psi _1^{}+B\psi _2)`$ (9)   
$`+(\delta _j^a\widehat{x}_i\delta _i^a\widehat{x}_j){\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}(\psi _2^{}B\psi _1)`$   
Prime denotes the derivative. The metric $`g_{ij}`$ can be recovered through the relation $`g_{ij}=\eta _{ab}e_i^ae_j^b`$ which yields;

$`g_{ij}={\displaystyle \frac{G^2}{r^2}}\left\{(\varphi _1^2+\varphi _2^2)(\delta _{ij}\widehat{x}_i\widehat{x}_j)+r^2A^2\widehat{x}_i\widehat{x}_j\right\}`$ (10)   
$`A`$ and $`\varphi _i`$ are to be determined from the equations of motion. The metric is degenerate if $`A=0`$. It is easy to show that in general one can not bring $`A`$ to zero by local Lorentz or general coordinate transformations.

Making use of the equations (6) and (8) the Einstein-Hilbert action reduces to the following form.

$`S={\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑r\left\{\psi _a^{}ϵ_{ab}\varphi _b+B\psi _a\varphi _a+{\displaystyle \frac{A}{2}}(\psi _a\psi _a1)\right\}`$ (11)   
where $`\{a,b\}=(1,2)`$ and $`ϵ_{ab}`$ is antisymmetric. Summations are implied over the repeated indices. The equations of motion can be found either through (5) or by varying (11) with respect to the six fields.

$`ϵ_{ab}\varphi _b^{}B\varphi _aA\psi _a=0`$ (12)   
$`ϵ_{ab}\psi _b^{}B\psi _a=0`$ (13)   
$`\varphi _a\psi _a=0,\psi _a\psi _a=1`$ (14)   
This system can be solved easily. The last line states that $`\psi _a`$ is a unit two-vector and $`\varphi _a`$ is orthogonal to $`\psi _a`$. So we can set $`\varphi _a=ϵ_{ab}\psi _bf(r)`$, where $`f(r)`$ is an arbitrary function. Equation (12) gives $`A=f^{}(r)`$. Setting $`\psi _1=\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Omega }(r)`$ and $`\psi _2=\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }(r)`$ one obtains $`B=\mathrm{\Omega }^{}(r)`$ from equation (13). The regularity of the spin connection at the origin requires $`\mathrm{\Omega }(0)=0`$. The following is the summary of our solution

$`\psi _1=\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Omega }(r),\psi _2=\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }(r),B=\mathrm{\Omega }(r)^{}`$   
$`\varphi _1=f(r)\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }(r),\varphi _2=f(r)\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Omega }(r),A=f(r)^{}`$ (15)   
The two functions , $`f(r)`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }(r)`$ , can not be determined from the equations of motion of course. Both of them represent the gauge degrees of freedom in the theory. The metric becomes

$`g_{ij}=G^2\left\{(\delta _{ij}\widehat{x}_i\widehat{x}_j){\displaystyle \frac{f^2}{r^2}}+f^{}{}_{}{}^{2}\widehat{x}_{i}^{}\widehat{x}_j\right\}`$ (16)   
Unlike $`\mathrm{\Omega }(r)`$, we have not imposed any boundary condition on $`f(r)`$. If $`f(r)=r/G`$ one obtains $`g_{ij}=\delta _{ij}`$ , which is the trivial Euclidean space. If $`f(r)=1`$ then $`g_{ij}=G^2(\delta _{ij}\widehat{x}_i\widehat{x}_j)/r^2`$. In the polar coordinates this solution is a two sphere; $`ds^2=G^2(d\theta ^2+\mathrm{sin}^2\theta d\phi ^2)`$. Choosing $`f(r)`$ to be a constant is possible only because there is no regularity condition on the dreibein at the origin. This choice leads to a singular dreibein since $`\varphi _2`$ does not vanish at $`r=0`$. In the metric formulation one can start with equation (16) but one can not choose $`f(r)`$ to be a constant if one wishes to write down an action.

In general if $`f(r)`$ does not vanish at the origin the dreibein is singular. But among those singular dreibeins the only dreibein that leads to a two dimensional space is when $`f(r)=C`$ as mentioned above. The radius of the two dimensional sphere is not determined since any constant $`C`$ is fine.

For completeness let us write the dreibein and the spin connection for our solution.

$`e_j^a(\stackrel{}{x})={\displaystyle \frac{G}{r}}\left[ϵ_{jk}^a\widehat{x}^kf\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }+\delta _j^af\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Omega }+(rf^{}f\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Omega })\widehat{x}^a\widehat{x}_j\right]`$ (17)   
$`w_j^a(\stackrel{}{x})={\displaystyle \frac{1}{r}}\left[ϵ_{jk}^a\widehat{x}^k(1\mathrm{cos}\mathrm{\Omega })+\delta _j^a\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega }+(r\mathrm{\Omega }^{}\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Omega })\widehat{x}^a\widehat{x}_j\right]`$ (18)   
The action for this solution vanishes as expected. We have omitted a surface term and/or gauge fixing terms since our analysis has been classical. In the quantum theory one has to impose gauge fixing conditions on the dreibein and the spin connection.

In this letter we have made use of the monopole-instanton ansatz for the spin connection and the dreibein. At the classical level, one learns from this analysis that there are two dimensional solutions in this theory with finite (in fact zero) action. In principle it is possible to develope a quantum theory near these solutions. In the metric formulation this is not possible. Although spin connection is usually introduced to couple gravity to spinors, in the above analysis its existence is the reason that we can have two dimensional solutions.

Some future directions of the research would be to include a cosmological constant and matter in this theory. Another interesting problem is to add the Chern-Simons gravity  term in the action and study the monopole-instanton solutions. In the Euclidean space Chern-Simons term might be imaginary (depending on how one defines the Wick rotation). In this case one would be looking at the complex-monopole type dreibeins and spin-connections in general. Complex monopoles were introduced in  in the context of a gauge theory.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Yutaka Hosotani for his encouragement, for many enlightening discussions and for his critical reading of the manuscript. I would like to thank Arkady Vainshtein for valuable suggestions. Roman Jackiw , whose comments led to a revision of the paper, is acknowledged with great appreciation. This work was supported by the Graduate School of University of Minnesota through the Dissertation Fellowship.

References