Noncommutative SO(2, 3) gauge theory and

noncommutative gravity
arXiv:1404.4213v2 [hep-th] 30 Jul 2014

Marija Dimitrijević and Voja Radovanović

University of Belgrade, Faculty of Physics

Studentski trg 12, 11000 Beograd, Serbia

Abstract
In this paper noncommutative gravity is constructed as a gauge theory of the
noncommutative SO(2, 3)⋆ group, while the noncommutativity is canonical (con-
stant). The Seiberg-Witten map is used to express noncommutative fields in terms
of the corresponding commutative fields. The commutative limit of the model is
the Einstein-Hilbert action with the cosmological constant term and the topolog-
ical Gauss-Bonnet term. We calculate the second order correction to this model
and obtain terms that are of zeroth to fourth power in the curvature tensor and
torsion. Trying to relate our results with f (R) and f (T ) models, we analyze
different limits of our model. In the limit of big cosmological constant and vanish-
ing torsion we obtain a x-dependent correction to the cosmological constant, i.e.
noncommutativity leads to a x-dependent cosmological constant. We also discuss
the limit of small cosmological constant and vanishing torsion and the teleparallel
limit.

Keywords: gauge theory of gravity, Seiberg-Witten map, expansion in powers of

curvature

eMail: dmarija,[email protected]
1 Introduction
General Relativity (GR) is widely accepted as a classical (low energy/large scale) de-
scription of the geometric properties of space-time and is experimentally very well
tested. However, the rapid development of observational cosmology during the last 20
years has led to data that cannot be explained by GR only. The most important of
these are the two phases of acceleration: inflation in the very early Universe and the
accelerated expansion of the Universe today. There are various attempts to explain
these two phases: cosmological constant, scalar field φ, f (R) and f (T ) theories and
some other modifications of GR.
In addition to these problems, no consistent (renormalizable) quantum field theory
of gravity has been constructed yet. Some candidates for a quantum gravity are string
theory, quantum loop gravity, dynamical triangularization,. . . . Combining problems of
divergences in quantum field theory (QFT) and singularities in GR leads to discretized
geometry [1]. Motivated by quantum mechanics and Heisenberg uncertainty relations,
noncommutative (NC) spaces can be defined [2]. Then the nonzero commutation re-
lations between coordinates lead to discretization of space-time. Unfortunately, it is
not yet clear how to formulate a gravity theory on NC spaces (NC gravity) and there
are various proposals in the literature. One can follow the twist approach in which the
commutative diffeomorphisms are replaced by the twisted diffeomorphisms [3]. How-
ever, a full understanding of the twisted symmetries is still missing. Having in mind
that the NC gauge theories can be consistently defined, many authors consider NC
gravity as a gauge theory of the Lorentz/Poincaré group. These approaches are based
on hermitian metrics [4] or vielbeins [5, 6, 7]. One can also construct emergent gravity
from noncommutative gauge theory and matrix models, see [8]. Finally, there is the
approach of NC differential geometry and frame formalism [9].
Recently, a lot of attention has been given to the anti de Sitter (AdS) gauge theory
and to its application to GR [10], quantization of gravity [11], AdS/CFT correspon-
dence and its applications [12]. In our previous paper [13], we begun the study of
noncommutative (NC) gravity based on the AdS gauge group. We started with the
MacDowell-Mansouri action on the commutative space-time and generalized it to the
NC MacDowell-Mansouri action on the canonically deformed space. One of the draw-
backs of our approach was that we had to assume from the beginning that in the
commutative limit torsion vanishes. The other disadvantage was that we introduced
noncommutativity ”in the middle”: the symmetry breaking from SO(2, 3) to SO(1, 3)
was performed in the commutative model. The obtained SO(1, 3) invariant action was
a basis for a noncommutative gravity action. Using the enveloping algebra approach
and the Seiberg-Witten (SW) map [14, 15] we constructed the NC gravity action in-
variant under the NC SO(1, 3)⋆ gauge symmetry. The deformation of theory has not
been introduced from the very beginning, mostly for technical reasons: complicated
calculations and gauge non-invariant expressions.
Nevertheless, it is of importance to have more general and more systematic results.
Therefore, in this paper we analyze the full NC SO(2, 3)⋆ gauge theory and perform
symmetry breaking after introducing the noncommutative deformation. The NC space-

1
time we work with is the canonically deformed, with the Moyal-Weyl ⋆-product given
by
i
θ αβ ∂x∂α ∂
f (x) ⋆ g(x) = e 2 ∂y β f (x)g(y)|y→x . (1.1)
Here θ µν is a constant antisymmetric matrix which is considered to be a small deforma-
tion parameter. Indices µ, ν take values 0, 1, 2, 3 and the four dimensional Minkowski
metric is ηµν = diag(1, −1, −1, −1).
In the next section we shortly describe the commutative SO(2, 3) gravity theory
as given in the literature and adapted to our notation. In Section 3 the NC SO(2, 3)⋆
gauge theory is constructed using the enveloping algebra approach and the SW map.
We then expand the NC action to the second order in the deformation parameter θ αβ
and calculate correction terms to the commutative action. We obtain that the first
order corrections vanish, thus we confirm the results already present in the literature.
The second order correction is calculated using the method of composite fields de-
veloped in [16]. The correction terms we obtain are of zeroth to fourth power in the
curvature tensor and torsion. They are written in a manifestly covariant way. However,
the full result is very cumbersome and it is difficult to discuss its physical implications.
Fortunately, having three different scales in the model enables us to discuss different
limits of our model. To be able to compare our results with f (R) models present in the
literature, in Section 4 we analyze the limit of big cosmological constant and vanishing
torsion and the limit of small cosmological constant and vanishing torsion. In the limit
of big cosmological constant we obtain a x-dependent correction for the cosmological
constant and we analyze possible modifications of the zeroth order solution of vacuum
Einstein equations. Finally, we discuss the teleparallel limit, the limit in which curva-
ture vanishes and torsion is different from zero. Again we try to compare our results
with the existing results for f (T ) theories.

2 Commutative gravity as AdS gauge theory

In order to establish the notation, in this section we briefly review the AdS gauge theory
on four-dimensional Minkowski space-time. More details about this construction can
be found in [13].
We assume that space-time has the structure of four-dimensional Minkowski space-
time M4 and follow the usual steps for constructing a gauge theory on M4 taking the
SO(2, 3) group as the gauge group. The gauge field is SO(2, 3)-valued
1
ωµ = ωµAB MAB , (2.2)
2
with the generators of the SO(2, 3) group denoted by MAB . The algebra is given by
[MAB , MCD ] = i(ηAD MBC + ηBC MAD − ηAC MBD − ηBD MAC ) . (2.3)
The 5D metric is ηAB = diag(+, −, −, −, +). Indices A, B, . . . take values 0, 1, 2, 3, 5,
while indices a, b, . . . take values 0, 1, 2, 3. A representation of this algebra is given by
i 1
Mab = [γa , γb ] = σab ,
4 2

2
 1
M5a = γa , (2.4)
2
where γa are four dimensional Dirac gamma matrices. Then the gauge potential ωµAB
decomposes into ωµab and ωµa5 = 1l eaµ
1 1 1
ωµ = ωµAB MAB = ωµab σab − eaµ γa . (2.5)
2 4 2l
The parameter l has dimension of length, while fields eaµ are dimensionless. The mean-
ing of the parameter l will be clear at the end of this section. Under the infinitesimal
gauge transformations the gauge potential transforms as

δǫ ωµ = ∂µ ǫ − i[ωµ , ǫ], (2.6)

1 AB
with the gauge parameter denoted by ǫ = 2ǫ MAB . The field strength tensor is
defined in the standard way as
1 AB
Fµν = ∂µ ων − ∂ν ωµ − i[ωµ , ων ] = Fµν MAB . (2.7)
2
Just like the gauge potential, the components of the field strength tensor FµνAB decom-
pose into Fµνab and Fµνa5 . It is easy to show that

ab 1 σ
ab γa
Fµν = Rµν − 2 (eaµ ebν − ebµ eaν ) − Fµνa5 , (2.8)
l 4 2
where
ab
Rµν = ∂µ ωνab − ∂ν ωµab + ωµac ωνcb − ωµbc ωνca (2.9)
lFµνa5 = Dµ eaν − Dν eaµ = Tµν
a
. (2.10)

Under the infinitesimal gauge transformation the field strength transforms covariantly

δǫ Fµν = i[ǫ, Fµν ]. (2.11)

Equations (2.5), (2.8), (2.9) and (2.10) suggest that one can identify ωµab with the
spin connection of the Poincaré gauge theory, eaµ with the vierbeins, Rµνab with the
curvature tensor and lFµνa5 with the torsion.

Indeed, it was shown in the seventies that one can do such identification and relate
AdS gauge theory with GR. Different ways were discussed in the literature, see [17,
18, 19]. One way is to start from the action which contains a scalar field
il
Z
S= Tr d4 xǫµνρσ Fµν Fρσ φ , (2.12)
64πGN
where GN is the Newton gravitational constant. The auxiliary field φ = φA ΓA , ΓA =
(iγa γ5 , γ5 ) transforms in the adjoint representation of SO(2, 3)

δφ = i[ǫ, φ] . (2.13)

3
The action (2.12) is invariant under the SO(2, 3) gauge symmetry. However, if we
break the symmetry and restrict the field φ to be φa = 0, φ5 = l then the symmetry
of the action is reduced to the SO(1, 3) gauge symmetry. The constraint on the field φ
can be introduced in various ways via a Lagrange multiplier or dynamically [17]. The
action obtained after symmetry breaking is then given by

il2
Z
S = ǫ µνρσ
d4 xTr(Fµν Fρσ γ5 )
64πGN
1
Z h l2 i
= − d4 x ǫµνρσ ǫabcd Rµν
ab
Rρσcd + eR + 2eΛ , (2.14)
16πGN 16

where Λ = −3/l2 and e = det(eaµ ). In the first line we inserted expansions (2.8) and
(2.9) and after some standard manipulation with indices and traces we obtained the
second line. The action (2.14) appeared for the first time in the paper by MacDowell
and Mansouri [18].
This action is written in the first order formalism: the spin connection ωµab and
the vierbeins eaµ are independent fields. The corresponding equations of motion give
vanishing torsion and enable to express the spin connection as a function of vierbeins.
Inserting the solution for the spin connection in the action (2.14) gives the action
in the second order formalism: the only dynamical (propagating) field is the metric
gµν = ηab eaµ ebν . In that case the first term in (2.14) is the Gauss-Bonnet term; it is
a topological term and does not contribute to the equations of motion. The second
term is the Einstein-Hilbert action, while the last term is the cosmological constant
term. Therefore, after symmetry breaking the action (2.12) describes GR with the
negative cosmological constant and the topological Gauss-Bonnet term. We see that
the parameter l is related with the cosmological constant and the radius of AdS space-
time. AdS space is a solution of Einstein vacuum equations obtained from this action.

3 The NC SO(2, 3)⋆ gauge theory

In this section we generalize the model (2.12) to the noncommutative case. We work
with the simplest form of noncommutativity, canonical or θ-constant noncommutativ-
ity. Following the approach of deformation quantization we represent noncommutative
functions as functions of commuting coordinates and algebra multiplication with the
Moyal-Weyl ⋆-product (1.1). The noncommutativity (deformation) is encoded in the
⋆-product, while all variables (fields) are functions of commuting coordinates. Integra-
tion is well defined since the usual integral is cyclic:
Z Z
d4 x(f ⋆ g ⋆ h) = d4 x(h ⋆ f ⋆ g) + boundary terms. (3.15)

In general, depending on the behavior of fields at the boundary, these boundary terms
can be different from zero. The boundary terms do not influence equations of motion,
but might be needed to have a well defined variational principle, that is a well defined