The Coupling of Chern-Simons Theory to Topological Gravity

Understand

We couple Chern-Simons gauge theory to 3-dimensional topological gravity with the aim of investigating its quantum topological invariance.

• We derive the relevant BRST rules and Batalin-Vilkovisky action.
• Standard BRST transformations of the gauge field are modified by terms involving both its anti-field and the super-ghost of topological gravity.
• Beyond the obvious couplings to the metric and the gravitino, the BV action includes hitherto neglected couplings to the super-ghost.