Work

8D conformal gravity with Einstein sector, and its relation to the Q-curvature

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: A bstract We first streamline the construction of the unique six-dimensional conformal gravity action found by Lü, Pang and Pope, that admits Einstein metrics as solutions to the field equations. We then prove that there exists a unique eight-dimensional conformal gravity action that admits Einstein metrics as solutions to the field equations, and explicitly build the corresponding action. Finally, we relate these results to Branson’s Q -curvature and the Fefferman-Graham obstruction tensor, to conjecture that on every even-dimensional space there exists a unique — up to boundary terms — conformally-invariant gravity theory that is extremised by Einstein metrics.

Source: Journal of High Energy Physics

DOI: 10.1007/jhep02(2026)101

Authors: Nicolas Boulanger, Davide Rovere

Institutions: University of Mons, University of Padua, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova

Language: English

Topic: Black Holes and Theoretical Physics

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS

Award: G5089555900