1203.5519 (R. Kumar et al.)

Dual gauge and co-BRST symmetries in Abelian gauge theories    [PDF]

R. Kumar, S. Krishna, A. Shukla, R. P. Malik

Taking the simple examples of an Abelian 1-form gauge theory in two (1 + 1)-dimensions, a 2-form gauge theory in four (3 + 1)-dimensions and a 3-form gauge theory in six (5 + 1)-dimensions of spacetime, we establish that such gauge theories respect, in addition to the gauge symmetry transformations that are generated by the first-class constraints of the theory, additional continuous symmetry transformations. We christen the latter symmetry transformations as the dual-gauge symmetry transformations. We generalize the above gauge and dual-gauge symmetry transformations to obtain the proper (anti-)BRST and (anti-)dual-BRST transformations for the Abelian 3-form gauge theory within the framework of BRST formalism. We claim that any arbitrary Abelian p-form (p = 1,2,3,...) gauge theory would respect the above cited additional symmetry in D = 2 p dimensions of spacetime. By exploiting the above inputs, we establish that the Abelian 3-form gauge theory, in six (5 + 1)-dimensions of spacetime, is a model for the Hodge theory whose discrete and continuous symmetry transformations provide the physical realizations of the cohomological operators of differential geometry.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.5519