Geometric foundations of Cartan gauge gravity

Abstract: We use the theory of Cartan connections to analyze the geometrical structures underpinning the gauge-theoretical descriptions of the gravitational interaction. According to the theory of Cartan connections, the spin connection

o m e g a

and the soldering form

h e t a

that define the fundamental variables of the Palatini formulation of general relativity can be understood as different components of a single field, namely a Cartan connection

A = o m e g a + h e t a

. In order to stress both the similarities and the differences between the notions of Ehresmann connection and Cartan connection, we explain in detail how a Cartan geometry

(P_{H} i g h t a r r o w M, A)

can be obtained from a

G

-principal bundle

P_{G} i g h t a r r o w M

endowed with an Ehresmann connection (being the Lorentz group

H

a subgroup of

G

) by means of a bundle reduction mechanism. We claim that this reduction must be understood as a partial gauge fixing of the local gauge symmetries of

P_{G}

, i.e. as a gauge fixing that leaves "unbroken" the local Lorentz invariance. We then argue that the "broken" part of the symmetry--that is the internal local translational invariance--is implicitly preserved by the invariance under the external diffeomorphisms of

M

.

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