The Hamilton-Jacobi characteristic equations for three dimensional Ashtekar gravity

The Hamilton-Jacobi analysis of three dimensional gravity defined in terms of Ashtekar-like variables is performed. We report a detailed analysis where the complete set of Hamilton-Jacobi constraints, the characteristic equations and the gauge transformations of the theory are found. We find from integrability conditions on the Hamilton-Jacobi Hamiltonians that the theory is reduced to a $BF$ field theory defined only in terms of self-dual (or anti-self-dual) variables; we identify the dynamical variables and the counting of physical degrees of freedom is performed. In addition, we compare our results with those reported by using the canonical formalism.