Equivalence between the Lovelock-Cartan action and a constrained gauge theory

We show that the four-dimensional Lovelock-Cartan action can be derived from a massless gauge theory for the SO(1, 3) group with an additional BRST trivial part. The model is originally composed of a topological sector and a BRST exact piece and has no explicit dependence on the metric, the vierbein or a mass parameter. The vierbein is introduced together with a mass parameter through some BRST trivial constraints. The effect of the constraints is to identify the vierbein with some of the additional fields, transforming the original action into the Lovelock-Cartan one. In this scenario, the mass parameter is identified with Newton's constant, while the gauge field is identified with the spin connection. The symmetries of the model are also explored. Moreover, the extension of the model to a quantum version is qualitatively discussed.