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3D gravity and double copy theory

Maor Ben-Shahar^*

Francesco Bonechi ^†

Maxim Zabzine ^‡

MIT Center for Theoretical Physics-a Leinweber Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

INFN Sezione di Firenze, Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 516, SE-75120 Uppsala, Sweden and Centre for Geometry and Physics, Uppsala University, Box 480, SE-75106 Uppsala, Sweden

^*Contact author: maorbs@mit.edu
^†Contact author: francesco.bonechi@fi.infn.it
^‡Contact author: maxim.zabzine@physics.uu.se

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Phys. Rev. D 114, L061701 – Published 8 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mxjy-1chy

Abstract

We introduce a novel reformulation of three-dimensional gravity in terms of divergenceless vector frames, inspired by the double copy for Chern-Simons theory. This formulation is on-shell equivalent to conventional 3D gravity and provides a transparent geometric interpretation of the double copy construction. We relate the resulting theory to a Chern-Simons–like action, propose a higher-dimensional origin, and explore extensions that give rise to ${A d S}_{3}$ solutions.

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References (16)

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Phys. Rev. D 114, L061701– Published 8 September, 2026

Vol. 114, Iss. 6 — 15 September 2026

Received 26 June 2026
Accepted 12 August 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/mxjy-1chy

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP³.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physical Review D

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3D gravity and double copy theory

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