In recent years, there has been an upsurge in interest in three-dimensional theories of gravity. In particular, two theories of massive gravity in three dimensions hold strong promise in the search for fully consistent theories of quantum gravity, an understanding of which will shed light on the problems of quantum gravity in four dimensions. One of these theories is the “old” third-order theory of topologically massive gravity (TMG) and the other one is a “new” fourth-order theory of massive gravity (NMG). Despite this increase in research activity, the problem of finding and classifying solutions of TMG and NMG remains a wide open area of research. In this thesis, we provide explicit new solutions of massive gravity in three dimensions and suggest future directions of research. These solutions belong to the Kundt class of spacetimes. A systematic analysis of the Kundt solutions with constant scalar polynomial curvature invariants provides a glimpse of the structure of the spaces of solutions of the two theories of massive gravity. We also find explicit solutions of topologically massive gravity whose scalar polynomial curvature invariants are not all constant, and these are the first such solutions. A number of properties of Kundt solutions of TMG and NMG, such as an identification of solutions which lie at the intersection of the full nonlinear and linearized theories, are also derived. / text

This thesis is a review of research done over the course of the past 4 years, divided into two unrelated parts. The rst is set in the context of Bagger-Lambert-Gustavsson models, based on 3-Lie algebras. In particular I will describe theories with metric 3-algebras of inde nite signature: these present elds with negative kinetic terms. The problem can be solved by gaugeing away the non-physical degrees of freedom, to obtain other well understood theories. I will show how this procedure can be easily applied for 3-algebra metrics of any inde nite signature. Part II of this thesis focuses on solutions of topologically massive gravity (TMG): particular attention is devoted to warped AdS3 black holes, which are discussed in great detail. I will present a novel analysis of the near horizon geometries of these solutions. I further propose an approach for searching for new solutions to 3-dimensional gravity based on conformal symmetry. This approach is able to yield most of the known axisymmetric stationary TMG backgrounds.

The thesis is divided into two loosely connected parts: the first one is concerned with three dimensional Topologically massive gravity (TMG) and the other is devoted to generating solutions of black objects within five minimal dimensional supergravity theory (mSUGRA5).