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Covariant fractons and Weitzenböck torsion

Davide Rovere*

  • *Contact author: davide.rovere@studenti.unipd.it
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 105002 – Published 6 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/y426-6lkj

Abstract

The relation between covariant fracton gauge theory and Møller-Hayashi-Shirafuji theory of gravity is investigated. The former is the gauge theory of a rank-two symmetric tensor with gauge symmetry given by the double derivative of a scalar parameter; the latter is the most general theory, whose action is quadratic in the Weitzenböck torsion. We show that the solutions of covariant fracton gauge theory describe a subsector of the space of solutions of Møller-Hayashi-Shirafuji theory, providing a new insight in the relation between covariant fractons and gravity, and elucidating the meaning of covariant fracton theory as a new type of gauge theory.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 105002– Published 6 November, 2025
  • Received 4 September 2025
  • Accepted 15 October 2025
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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.

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