We examine interacting bosonic higher spin gauge fields in the BRST-antifield formalism. Assuming that an interacting action $S$ is a deformation of the free action with a deformation parameter $g$, we solve the master equation $(S,S)=0$ from the lower orders in $g$. It is shown that choosing a certain cubic interaction as the first order deformation, we can solve the master equation and obtain an action containing all orders in $g$. The anti-ghost number of the obtained action is less than or equal to two. Furthermore we show that the obtained action is lifted to that of interacting bosonic higher spin gauge fields on anti-de Sitter spaces.
The general BRST-anti-BRST construction in the framework of the antifield-antibracket formalism is illustrated in the case of the Freedmann-Townsend model.
The Batalin-Vilkovisky antifield action for the BF theories is constructed by means of the extended form method. The BRST invariant BV antifield action is directly written down by making use of the extended forms that involve all the required ghosts and antifields.
An irreducible antifield BRST quantization method for reducible gauge theories is proposed. The general formalism is illustrated in the case of the Freedman-Townsend model.
The relevance of the BRST cohomology of the extended antifield formalism is briefly discussed along with standard homological tools needed for its computation.
We present a new collective field formalism with two rather than one collective field to derive the antifield formalism for extended BRST invariant quantisation. This gives a direct and physical proof of the scheme of Batalin, Lavrov and Tyutin, derived on algebraic grounds. The importance of the collective field in the quantisation of open algebras in both the BRST and extended BRST invariant way is stressed.
We study the relation between the lagrangian field-antifield formalism and the BRST invariant phase space formulation of gauge theories. Starting from the Batalin-Fradkin-Vilkovisky unitarized action, we demonstrate in a deductive way the equivalence of the phase space, and the lagrangian field-antifield partition functions for the case of irreducible first rank theories.
We perform the antifield BRST quantization of duality-symmetric Maxwell theory and show explicitly the quantum equivalence of the different formulations (covariant and non-covariant). The non-covariant gauge-fixed action is used in the computation of propagators for this model.
In the framework of $Sp(2)$ extended Lagrangian field-antifield BV formalism we study systematically the role of finite field-dependent BRST-BV transformations. We have proved that the Jacobian of a finite BRST-BV transformation is capable of generating arbitrary finite change of the gauge-fixing function in the path integral.
We study the field/antifield formulation of pure Yang Mills theory in the framework of finite field dependent BRST transformation. We show that the generating functionals corresponding to different solutions of quantum master equation are connected through the finite field dependent BRST transformations. We establish this result with the help of several explicit examples.
A crucial property of the standard antifield-BRST cohomology at non negative ghost number is that any cohomological class is completely determined by its antifield independent part. In particular, a BRST cocycle that vanishes when the antifields are set equal to zero is necessarily exact.\ \ This property, which follows from the standard theorems of homological perturbation theory, holds not only in the algebra of local functions, but also in the space of local functionals. The present paper stresses how important it is that the antifields in question be the usual antifields associated with th…
We study systematically finite BRST- BV transformations in the field-antifield formalism. We present explicitly their Jacobians and the form of a solution to the compensation equation determining the functional field dependence of finite Fermionic parameters, necessary to generate arbitrary finite change of gauge-fixing functions in the path integral.
Finite BRST-BV transformations are studied systematically within the W-X formulation of the standard and the Sp(2)-extended field-antifield formalism. The finite BRST-BV transformations are introduced by formulating a new version of the Lie equations. The corresponding finite change of the gauge-fixing master action X and the corresponding Ward identity are derived.
We present a concise method to construct a BRST invariant action for the topological quantum field theories in the Batalin-Vilkovisky antifield formalism. The BV action that is a solution for the master equation is directly obtained by means of the extended forms that involve all the required ghosts and antifields. The BV actions for the non-abelian $BF$ theories (in 4 and higher dimensions) and the Chern-Simons theory are constructed by means of the extended form method. An extension of the $BF$ theory in 4-dimensions to include a ``cosmological term'' is also examined and the close connectio…
We show that any BRST invariant quantum action with open or closed gauge algebra has a corresponding local background gauge invariance. If the BRST symmetry is anomalous, but the anomaly can be removed in the antifield formalism, then the effective action possesses a local background gauge invariance. The presence of antifields (BRST sources) is necessary. As an example we analyze chiral $W_3$ gravity.
Yang-Mills models with compact gauge group coupled to matter fields are considered. The general tools developed in a companion paper are applied to compute the local cohomology of the BRST differential $s$ modulo the exterior spacetime derivative $d$ for all values of the ghost number, in the space of polynomials in the fields, the ghosts, the antifields (=sources for the BRST variations) and their derivatives. New solutions to the consistency conditions $sa+db=0$ depending non trivially on the antifields are exhibited. For a semi-simple gauge group, however, these new solutions arise only at …
Most of the known models describing the fundamental interactions have a gauge freedom. In the standard path integral, it is necessary to "fix the gauge" in order to avoid integrating over unphysical degrees of freedom. Gauge independence might then become a tricky issue, especially when the structure of the gauge symmetries is intricate. In the modern approach to this question, it is BRST invariance that effectively implements gauge invariance. This set of lectures briefly reviews some key ideas underlying the BRST-antifield formalism, which yields a systematic procedure to path-integrate any …
We establish general theorems on the cohomology $H^*(s|d)$ of the BRST differential modulo the spacetime exterior derivative, acting in the algebra of local $p$-forms depending on the fields and the antifields (=sources for the BRST variations). It is shown that $H^{-k}(s|d)$ is isomorphic to $H_k(δ|d)$ in negative ghost degree $-k\ (k>0)$, where $δ$ is the Koszul-Tate differential associated with the stationary surface. The cohomological group $H_1(δ|d)$ in form degree $n$ is proved to be isomorphic to the space of constants of the motion, thereby providing a cohomological reformulation of No…
The metric-affine gauge theory of gravity provides a broad framework in which gauge theories of gravity can be formulated. In this article we fit metric-affine gravity into the covariant BRST--antifield formalism in order to obtain gauge fixed quantum actions. As an example the gauge fixing of a general two-dimensional model of metric-affine gravity is worked out explicitly. The result is shown to contain the gauge fixed action of the bosonic string in conformal gauge as a special case.
Reducible constrained Hamiltonian systems are quantized accordingly an irreducible BRST manner. Our procedure is based on the construction of an irreducible theory which is physically equivalent with the original one. The equivalence between the two systems makes legitimate the substitution of the BRST quantization for the reducible theory by that of the irreducible system. The general formalism is illustrated in detail on a model involving abelian one- and two-form gauge fields.
We completely compute the local BRST cohomology $H(s|d)$ of the combined Yang-Mills-2-form system coupled through the Yang-Mills Chern-Simons term ("Chapline-Manton model"). We consider the case of a simple gauge group and explicitely include in the analysis the sources for the BRST variations of the fields ("antifields"). We show that there is an antifield independent representative in each cohomological class of $H(s|d)$ at ghost number 0 or 1. Accordingly, any counterterm may be assumed to preserve the gauge symmetries. Similarly, there is no new candidate anomaly beside those already consi…
We present results of a computation of the BRST-antibracket cohomology in the space of local functionals of the fields and antifields for a class of 2d gravitational theories which are conformally invariant at the classical level. In particular all classical local action functionals, all candidate anomalies and all BRST--invariant functionals depending nontrivially on antifields are given and discussed for these models.
We consider the BRST symmetric four dimensional BF theory, a topological theory, containing antysymmetric tensor fields in Landau gauge and extend the BRST symmetry by introducing a shift symmetry to it. Within this formulation, the antighost fields corresponding to shift symmetry coincide with antifields of standard field/antifield formulation. Further, we provide a superspace description for the BF model possessing extended BRST and extended anti-BRST transformations.
The nonlocal regularization method, recently proposed in ref.\,\ct{emkw91,kw92,kw93}, is extended to general gauge theories by reformulating it along the ideas of the antibracket-antifield formalism. From the interplay of both frameworks a fully regularized version of the field-antifield (FA) formalism arises, being able to deal with higher order loop corrections and to describe higher order loop contributions to the BRST anomaly. The quantum master equation, considered in the FA framework as the quantity parametrizing BRST anomalies, is argued to be incomplete at two and higher order loops an…
We introduce external sources J_A directly into the quantum master action W of the field-antifield formalism instead of the effective action. The external sources J_A lead to a set of BRST-invariant functions W^A that are in antisymplectic involution. As a byproduct, we encounter quasi--groups with open gauge algebras.
We generalize the BRST transformations in Abelian rank-2 tensor field theory by allowing the parameter to be finite and field dependent and show that such transformations play crucial role in studying the Abelian 2-form gauge theory in noncovariant gauges. The generating functionals in different effective theories are connected through these generalized BRST transformations with different choice of finite parameter. We further consider the generalization of the anti-BRST transformations and show that even anti-BRST transformations with the finite field dependent parameter relate the generating…
We propose a superfield formalism of Lagrangian BRST-antiBRST quantization of arbitrary gauge theories in general coordinates with the base manifold of fields and antifields desribed in terms of both bosonic and fermionic variables.
In the extended antifield formalism, a quantum BRST differential for anomalous gauge theories is constructed. Local BRST cohomological classes are characterized, besides the form degree and the ghost number, by the length of their descents and of their lifts, and this both in the standard and the extended antifield formalism. It is shown that during the BRST invariant renormalization of a local BRST cohomological class, the anomaly that can appear is constrained to be a local BRST cohomological class with a shorter descent and a longer lift than the given class. As an application of both resul…
In this thesis, we compute within the field-antifield formalism the local BRST cohomology of various theories involving p-form gauge fields. A particular emphasis is put on the cohomology groups corresponding to the consistent local interactions, counterterms and candidate anomalies.
In this short note we extend the results of Alfaro and Damgaard on the origin of antifields to theories with a gauge algebra that is open or reducible.
In this work, the DDF-like approach to the pure spinor cohomology is extended to the next ghost number level, the so called antifields. In a direct (supersymmetric) parallel to the bosonic string, some properties of the ghost number two cohomology are derived with the enlargement of the DDF algebra. Also, the DDF conjugates of the b ghost zero mode emerge naturally from the extended algebra and the physical state condition is discussed. Unlike the bosonic string case, the cohomology analysis of the pure spinor b ghost is restricted to BRST-closed states.
It is outlined how deformations of field theoretical rigid symmetries can be constructed and classified by cohomological means in the extended antifield formalism. Special attention is devoted to deformations referring only to a subset of the rigid symmetries of a given model and leading to a nontrivial extension of the graded Lie algebra associated with that subset. The method is illustrated for a D=4, N=2 supersymmetric model where the central extension of the supersymmetry algebra emerges via a deformation. Deformations of gauge fixed actions with a BRST symmetry are discussed too and illus…
A generalized version is proposed for the field-antifield formalism. The antibracket operation is defined in arbitrary field-antifield coordinates. The antisymplectic definitions are given for first- and second-class constraints. In the case of second-class constraints the Dirac's antibracket operation is defined. The quantum master equation as well as the hypergauge fixing procedure are formulated in a coordinate-invariant way. The general hypergauge functions are shown to be antisymplectic first-class constraints whose Jacobian matrix determinant is constant on the constraint surface. The BR…
A superspace formulation for the Batalin Vilkovisky formalism (also called field-antifield quantization ) with extended BRST invariance (BRST and anti-BRST invariance ) for gauge theories with closed algebra is presented. In contrast to a recent formulation, where only BRST invariance holds off shell, two collective sets of fields are introduced and an off shell realization of the extended algebra in a superspace with two Grassmann coordinates is obtained. The example of the Yang Mills theory is also considered.
Covariant quantization of theories based on nonlinear extensions of Lie algebras in 2d is studied by using a generalized Lagrangian BRST formalism. The quantum action is constructed to be invariant under the off--shell nilpotent BRST transformations by using a set of independent antifields as auxiliary, nonpropagating variables in the quantum theory. The general results are applied to the quantization of nonlinear gauge theory based on quadratic Poincaré algebra, which is closely related to 2d gravity with dynamical torsion.
It has recently been shown that the Field Antifield quantization of anomalous irreducible gauge theories with closed algebra can be represented in a BRST superspace where the quantum action at one loop order, including the Wess Zumino term, and the anomalies show up as components of the same superfield. We show here how the Chiral Schwinger model can be represented in this formulation.
The Lagrangian Sp(3) BRST symmetry for irreducible gauge theories is constructed in the framework of homological perturbation theory. The canonical generator of this extended symmetry is shown to exist. A gauge-fixing procedure specific to the standard antibracket-antifield formalism, that leads to an effective action, which is invariant under all the three differentials of the Sp(3) algebra, is given.
Using the BRST--BV approach, we consider totally symmetric arbitrary integer spin conformal fields propagating in flat space. For such fields, we obtain the ordinary-derivative BRST--BV Lagrangian that is invariant under gauge transformations. In our approach, the ordinary-derivative Lagrangian and gauge transformations are constructed in terms of the respective traceless gauge fields and traceless gauge transformation parameters. We also obtain a realization of conformal algebra symmetries on the space of fields and antifields entering the BRST--BV formulation of conformal fields.
p-form gauge theories with Stueckelberg coupling are quantized in an irreducible antifield-BRST way. As a consequence, neither the ghosts of ghosts nor their antifields appear. Some irreducible gauge conditions are inferred naturally within our formalism. In the end we briefly discuss the interacting case.
We analyse the Abelian $N=1$ super-Chern-Simons model coupled to parity-preserving matter in linear and non-linear gauges with exact BRST invariance. Then we analyse the theory in field/antifield formulation to discuss the model at quantum level. Furthermore, we implement the field/antifield dependent transformation parameter to generalize the BRST symmetry of the theory. The novelty of field/antifield dependent BRST transformation is that under change of variable the Jacobian of the functional integral extends the quantum action from linear gauge to non-linear gauge. The results are establish…
General structure of BRST-invariant constraint algebra is established, in its commutator and antibracket forms, by means of formulation of algebra-generating equations in yet more extended phase space. New ghost-type variables behave as fields and antifields with respect to quantum antibrackets. Explicit form of BRST-invariant gauge algebra is given in detail for rank-one theories with Weyl- and Wick- ordered ghost sector. A gauge-fixed unitarizing Hamiltonian is constructed, and the formalism is shown to be physically equivalent to the standard BRST-BFV approach.
We show that the BV (Batalin Vilkovisky) action, formulated with an extended BRST symmetry (including the shift symmetry), is also invariant under an extended anti-BRST transformation (where the antifields are the parameters of the transformation), when the gauge fixing Lagrangian is both BRST and anti-BRST invariant. We show that for a general gauge fixing Lagrangian, the BV action can be written in a manifestly extended BRST invariant manner in a superspace with one Grassmann coordinate whereas it can be expressed in a manifestly extended BRST and anti-BRST invariant manner in a superspace w…
Université Libre de Bruxelles（布鲁塞尔自由大学）；International Solvay Institutes（国际索尔维研究所）；Sorbonne Université（索邦大学）；CNRS（法国国家科学研究中心）；Collège de France（法兰西公学院）；Université PSL（巴黎文理研究大学）；Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology（冲绳科学技术大学院大学）
We show that cohomology of the variational complex in field-antifield BRST theory on an arbitrary manifold is equal to the de Rham cohomology of this manifold.
We first derive all world-sheet action functionals for NSR superstring models with (1,1) supersymmetry and any number of abelian gauge fields, for gauge transformations of the standard form. Then we prove for these models that the BRST cohomology groups $H^g(s)$, $g<4$ (with the antifields taken into account) are isomorphic to those of the corresponding bosonic string models, whose cohomology is fully known. This implies that the nontrivial global symmetries, Noether currents, background charges, consistent deformations and candidate gauge anomalies of an NSR (1,1) superstring model are in one…
We construct the field dependent mixed BRST (combination of BRST and anti-BRST) transformations for pure gauge theories. These are shown to be an exact nilpotent symmetry of both the effective action as well as the generating functional for certain choices of the field dependent parameters. We show that the Jacobian contributions for path integral measure in the definition of generating functional arising from BRST and anti-BRST part compensate each other. The field dependent mixed BRST transformations are also considered in field/antifield formulation to show that the solutions of quantum mas…
We extend previous work on antifield dependent local BRST cohomology for matter coupled gauge theories of Yang-Mills type to the case of gauge groups that involve free abelian factors. More precisely, we first investigate in a model independent way how the dynamics enters the computation of the cohomology for a general class of Lagrangians in general spacetime dimensions. We then discuss explicit solutions in the case of specific models. Our analysis has implications for the structure of characteristic cohomology and for consistent deformations of the classical models, as well as for divergenc…
Using BRST-BV formulation of relativistic dynamics, arbitrary spin massless and massive field propagating in flat space and arbitrary spin massless fields propagating in AdS space are considered. For such fields, BRST-BV Lagrangians invariant under gauge transformations are obtained. The Lagrangians and gauge transformations are built in terms of traceless gauge fields and traceless gauge transformation parameters. The use of the Poincare parametrization of AdS space allows us to get simple BRST-BV Lagrangian for AdS fields. By imposing the Siegel gauge condition, we get gauge-fixed Lagrangian…
Using the generalized Hamiltonian method of Batalin, Fradkin and Vilkovsky we develop the BRST formalism for the bosonic string on AdS(5)xS(5) formulated as principal chiral model. Then we show that the monodromy matrix and non-local charges are BRST invariant.
We compute completely the BRST--antibracket cohomology on local functionals in two-dimensional Weyl invariant gravity for given classical field content (two dimensional metric and scalar matter fields) and gauge symmetries (two dimensional diffeomorphisms and local Weyl transformations). This covers the determination of all classical actions, of all their rigid symmetries, of all background charges and of all candidate gauge anomalies. In particular we show that the antifield dependence can be entirely removed from the anomalies and that, if the target space has isometries, the condition for t…
The Hamiltonian (gauge) symmetry generators of non-local (gauge) theories are presented. The construction is based on the d+1 dimensional space-time formulation of d dimensional non-local theories. The procedure is applied to U(1) space-time non-commutative gauge theory. In the Hamiltonian formalism the Hamiltonian and the gauge generator are constructed. The nilpotent BRST charge is also obtained. The Seiberg-Witten map between non-commutative and commutative theories is described by a canonical transformation in the superphase space and in the field-antifield space. The solutions of classica…
The general BRST-BFV analysis of anomaly in the string theory coupled to background fields is carried out. An exact equation for c-valued symbol of anomaly operator is found and structure of its solutions is studied.
We formulate the conditions defining the irreducible continuous spin representation of the four-dimensional Poincaré group based on spin-tensor fields with dotted and undotted indices. Such a formulation simplifies analysis of the Bargmann-Wigner equations and reduces the number of equations from four to three. Using this formulation we develop the BRST approach and derive the covariant Lagrangian for the continuous spin fields.
We analyse in detail the local BRST cohomology in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory using the antifield formalism. We do not restrict the Lagrangian to be the sum of the standard Hilbert and Yang-Mills Lagrangians, but allow for more general diffeomorphism and gauge invariant actions. The analysis is carried out in all spacetime dimensions larger than 2 and for all ghost numbers. This covers the classification of all candidate anomalies, of all consistent deformations of the action, as well as the computation of the (equivariant) characteristic cohomology, i.e. the cohomology of the spacetime exterio…
We apply the BRST approach, previously developed for higher spin field theories, to gauge invariant Lagrangian construction for antisymmetric massive and massless bosonic fields in arbitrary d-dimensional curved space. The obtained theories are reducible gauge models both in massless and massive cases and the order of reducibility grows with the value of the rank of the antisymmetric field. In both the cases the Lagrangians contain the sets of auxiliary fields and possess more rich gauge symmetry in comparison with standard Lagrangian formulation for the antisymmetric fields. This serves addit…
Tachyon condensation on a bosonic D-brane was recently demonstrated numerically in Witten's open string field theory with level truncation approximation. This non-perturbative vacuum, which is obtained by solving the equation of motion, has to satisfy furthermore the requirement of BRST invariance. This is indispensable in order for the theory around the non-perturbative vacuum to be consistent. We carry out the numerical analysis of the BRST invariance of the solution and find that it holds to a good accuracy. We also mention the zero-norm property of the solution. The observations in this pa…
The antifield-BRST formalism and the various cohomologies associated with it are surveyed and illustrated in the context of Yang-Mills gauge theory. In particular, the central role played by the Koszul-Tate resolution and its relation to the characteristic cohomology are stressed.
Quantum localization of classical mechanics within the BRST-BFV and BV (or field-antifield) quantization methods are studied. It is shown that a special choice of gauge fixing functions (or BRST-BFV charge) together with the unitary limit leads to Hamiltonian localization in the path integral of the BRST-BFV formalism. In turn, we find that a special choice of gauge fixing functions being proportional to extremals of an initial non-degenerate classical action together with a very special solution of the classical master equation result in Lagrangian localization in the partition function of th…
