Chern-Simons Form Explained: General Relativity

[jinbaw]

I've encountered chern-simons forms several times in papers of general relativity, such as in "actions based on the chern-simons form". I don't really understand where that form comes from. Is it simply some mathematical quantity? Can someone explain to me? or at least send me a reference?

 

[tiny-tim]

hi jinbaw!

there's a brief introduction at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chern–Simons_form" , but you can get several papers with a google search for "chern-simons form"