Matter coupling in minimal massive 3D gravity and spinor-matter interactions in exterior algebra formalism

Abstract

Abstract In this work, by employing the exterior algebra formalism, we study the matter coupling in minimal massive 3D gravity (MMG) by first considering that the matter Lagrangian is connection-independent and then considering that the matter coupling is connection-dependent. The matter coupling in MMG has been previously investigated in the work Arvanitakis et al (2014 Class. Quantum Grav. 31 235012) in tensorial notation where the matter Lagrangian is considered to be connection-independent. In the first part of the present paper, we revisit the connection-independent matter coupling by using the language of differential forms. We derive the MMG field equation and construct the related source two-form. We also obtain the consistency relation within this formalism. Next, we examine the case where the matter Lagrangian is connection-dependent. In particular, we concentrate on the spinor-matter coupling and obtain the MMG field equation by explicitly constructing the source term. We also get the consistency relation that the source term should satisfy in order that spinor-matter coupled MMG equation be consistent.