CHIRAL ANOMALY IN ASHTEKAR'S APPROACH TO CANONICAL GRAVITY

Abstract

The Dirac equation in Riemann–Cartan spacetimes with torsion is reconsidered. As is well-known, only the axial covector torsion A, a one-form, couples to massive Dirac fields. Using diagrammatic techniques, we show that besides the familiar Riemannian term only the Pontrjagin type four-form dA ∧ dA does arise additionally in the chiral anomaly, but not the Nieh–Yan term d* A, as has been claimed recently. Implications for cosmic strings in Einstein–Cartan theory as well as for Ashtekar's canonical approach to quantum gravity are discussed.