Preprint
Constraint Analysis and Quantization of Anomalous 2-D Thomas-Whitehead Gravity
ArXiv.org
Cornell University
03/07/2026
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2603.06995
Abstract
The two-dimensional effective Polyakov action is often realized as the anomalous contributions of string theories and fermions coupled to gravity in two-dimensions. However, as a result of the reparameterization invariance, one finds that the effective action produces vanishing Hamiltonians as constraints even in disparate gauges such as the dynamical light-cone and the ADM formalism of the metric. On the other hand, two-dimensional gravitational theories naturally arise as geometric actions on the coadjoint orbits of the Virasoro algebra. The Thomas-Whitehead gravity formalism extends the effective Polyakov action in such a way that the defining coadjoint element for the orbit becomes a dynamical field, viz the diffeomorphism field. In this work, we examine the constraint analysis and quantization of the Hamiltonian in the context of Thomas-Whitehead gravity using both the dynamical light-cone and the ADM formalisms of the metric. Constraint analysis is then repeated in a Minkowski background and with a dynamical action for the diffeomorphisms field arising from the Thomas-Whitehead action. Adding dynamics to the diffeomorphism field subsequently removes the vanishing Hamiltonians.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Constraint Analysis and Quantization of Anomalous 2-D Thomas-Whitehead Gravity
- Creators
- Eric BiedkeSalvatore QuaidVincent Rodgers
- Resource Type
- Preprint
- Publication Details
- ArXiv.org
- DOI
- 10.48550/arxiv.2603.06995
- ISSN
- 2331-8422
- Publisher
- Cornell University; Ithaca, New York
- Language
- English
- Date posted
- 03/07/2026
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9985143133302771
Metrics
1 Record Views