Even-dimensional General Relativity from Born-Infeld gravity

Abstract: It is an accepted fact that requiring the Lovelock theory to have the maximun possible number of degree of freedom, fixes the parameters in terms of the gravitational and the cosmological constants. In odd dimensions, the Lagrangian is a Chern-Simons form for the (A)dS group. In even dimensions, the action has a Born-Infeld-like form. Recently was shown that standard odd-dimensional General Relativity can be obtained from Chern-Simons Gravity theory for a certain Lie algebra B. Here we report on a simple model that suggests a mechanism by which standard even-dimensional General Relativity may emerge as a weak coupling constant limit of a Born-Infeld theory for a certain Lie subalgebra of the algebra B. Possible extension to the case of even-dimensional supergravity is briefly discussed.