Wigner's little group as a gauge generator in linearized gravity theories

We show that the translational subgroup of Wigner's little group for massless particles in 3 + 1 dimensions generates gauge transformation in linearized Einstein gravity. Similarly, a suitable representation of the one-dimensional translational group T(1) is shown to generate gauge transformation in the linearized Einstein-Chern-Simons theory in 2 + 1 dimensions. These representations are derived systematically from appropriate representations of translational groups which generate gauge transformations in gauge theories living in spacetime of one higher dimension by the technique of dimensional descent. The unified picture thus obtained is compared with a similar picture available for vector gauge theories in 3 + 1 and 2 + 1 dimensions. Finally, the polarization tensor of the Einstein-Pauli-Fierz theory in 2 + 1 dimensions is shown to split into the polarization tensors of a pair of Einstein-Chern-Simons theories with opposite helicities suggesting a doublet structure for the Einstein-Pauli-Fierz theory