No cross‐interactions between the Weyl graviton and the massless Rarita‐Schwinger field

The proof of the fact that there are no nontrivial, consistent cross‐couplings that can be added between the Weyl graviton and the massless Rarita‐Schwinger field is accomplished by means of a cohomological approach, based on the deformation of the solution to the master equation from the antifield‐Becchi‐Rouet‐Stora‐Tyutin (BRST) formalism. The procedure developed here relies on the assumptions of locality, smoothness, (background) Lorentz invariance, Poincaré invariance, and preservation of the number of derivatives with respect to each field (the last hypothesis was made only in antighost number zero).     

Four‐dimensional couplings among BF and matter theories from BRST cohomology

The local and manifestly covariant Lagrangian interactions in four spacetime dimensions that can be added to a “free” model that describes a generic matter theory and an abelian BF theory are constructed by means of deforming the solution to the master equation on behalf of specific cohomological techniques.     

BRST analysis of general mechanical systems

We study the groups of local BRST cohomology associated to the general systems of ordinary differential equations, not necessarily Lagrangian or Hamiltonian. Starting with the involutive normal form of the equations, we explicitly compute certain cohomology groups having clear physical meaning. These include the groups of global symmetries, conservation laws and Lagrange structures. It is shown that the space of integrable Lagrange structures is naturally isomorphic to the space of weak Poisson brackets. The last fact allows one to establish a direct link between the path-integral quantization of general not necessarily variational dynamics by means of Lagrange structures and the deformation quantization of weak Poisson brackets.     

Generalised BRST symmetry and gaugeon formalism for perturbative quantum gravity: Novel observation

In this paper the novel features of Yokoyama gaugeon formalism are stressed out for the theory of perturbative quantum gravity in the Einstein curved spacetime. The quantum gauge transformations for the theory of perturbative gravity are demonstrated in the framework of gaugeon formalism. These quantum gauge transformations lead to renormalised gauge parameter. Further, we analyse the BRST symmetric gaugeon formalism which embeds more acceptable Kugo–Ojima subsidiary condition. Further, the BRST symmetry is made finite and field-dependent. Remarkably, the Jacobian of path integral under finite and field-dependent BRST symmetry amounts to the exact gaugeon action in the effective theory of perturbative quantum gravity.     

On the connection between Pauli-Villars and higher derivative regularizations

We show that in some cases the gauge-invariant Pauli-Villars and higher (covariant) derivative regularizations are equivalent.     

A New Construction for Hamiltonian BRST Operators

In this paper, we describe a precise contracting homotopy which provides a new construction of Hamiltonian BRST operators with only three summands.     

BRST Extension of Geometric Quantization

Consider a physical system for which a mathematically rigorous geometric quantization procedure exists. Now subject the system to a finite set of irreducible first class (bosonic) constraints. It is shown that there is a mathematically rigorous BRST quantization of the constrained system whose cohomology at ghost number zero recovers the constrained quantum states. Moreover this space of constrained states has a well-defined Hilbert space structure inherited from that of the original system. Treatments of these ideas in the physics literature are more general but suffer from having states with infinite or zero "norms" and thus are not admissible as states. Also BRST operators for many systems require regularization to be well-defined. In our more restricted context, we show that our treatment does not suffer from any of these difficulties.     

BRST invariance and the conical pendulum

The Hamiltonian formulation of the BRST method for quantizing constrained systems developed recently by Nemeschanskyet al is applied to the well-known problem of the conical pendulum in classical mechanics. The similarity of the system to a gauge theory wherein the two constraints serve as generators of local Abelian gauge transformations is also pointed out. The definition of the physical states of the system as a gauge theory and also as a BRST invariant theory is then discussed in some detail.     

Cohomological derivation of the couplings between an abelian gauge field and matter fields

Consistent couplings between an abelian gauge field and a system of matter fields are investigated by means of Lagrangian cohomological arguments.     

General Formalism for the BRST Symmetry

In this paper we will discuss Faddeev-Popov method for gauge theories with a general form of gauge symmetry in an abstract way. We will then develope a general formalism for dealing with the BRST symmetry. This formalism will make it possible to analyse the BRST symmetry for any theory.     

Jet Coordinates for Local BRST Cohomology

The construction of appropriate jet space coordinates for calculating local BRST cohomology groups is discussed. The relation to tensor calculus is briefly reviewed too.     

The d = [δ, b] Decomposition of Topological Yang–Mills Theory

We review the construction of topological Yang–Mills theory (TYMT) from the point of view of an operator satisfying d = [, b] with b the BRST operator. We focus our attention on a situation in which [, d] 0 and show how this leads us to consider a more general derivative ~d = b + d + _{k 2 k} ^1–k .     

BRST invariance in Coulomb gauge QCD

In the Coulomb gauge, the Hamiltonian of QCD contains terms of order ?²${?}^2$, identified by Christ and Lee, which are non-local but instantaneous. The question is addressed how do these terms fit in with BRST invariance. Our discussion is confined to the simplest, O(g⁴)$O\left(g^4\right)$, example.     

Finite field-dependent symmetries in perturbative quantum gravity

In this paper we discuss the absolutely anticommuting nilpotent symmetries for perturbative quantum gravity in general curved spacetime in linear and non-linear gauges. Further, we analyze the finite field-dependent BRST (FFBRST) transformation for perturbative quantum gravity in general curved spacetime. The FFBRST transformation changes the gauge-fixing and ghost parts of the perturbative quantum gravity within functional integration. However, the operation of such symmetry transformation on the generating functional of perturbative quantum gravity does not affect the theory on physical ground. The FFBRST transformation with appropriate choices of finite BRST parameter connects non-linear Curci–Ferrari and Landau gauges of perturbative quantum gravity. The validity of the results is also established at quantum level using Batalin–Vilkovisky (BV) formulation.     

Refined Chiral Slavnov–Taylor Identities: Renormalization and Local Physics

We study the quantization of chiral QED with one family of massless fermions and the Stueckelberg field in order to give mass to the Abelian gauge field in a BRST-invariant way. We show that an extended Slavnov–Taylor (ST) identity can be introduced and fulfilled to all orders in perturbation theory by a suitable choice of the local actionlike counterterms, order by order in the loopwise expansion. This ST identity incorporates the Adler–Bardeen anomaly and involves the introduction of a doublet (K, c), where K is an external source of dimension 0 and c is the ghost field. By a purely algebraic argument we show that the introduction of the source K trivializes the cohomology of the extended linearized classical ST operator S ₀ in the Fadeev–Popov (FP) charge + 1 sector.We discuss the physical content of the extended ST identity and prove that the cohomology classes associated with S ₀ are modified with respect to the ones of the classical BRST differential s in the FP neutral sector (physical observables). This provides a counterexample showing that the introduction of a doublet can modify the cohomology of the model, as a consequence of the fact that the counting operator for the doublet (K, c) does not commute with S ₀ .We explicitly check that the physical states defined by s are no more physical states of the full quantized theory by showing that the subspace of the physical states corresponding to s is not left-invariant under the application of the S matrix, as a consequence of the extended ST identity.     

Topological Quantum Field Theory on non-Abelian gerbes

The infinitesimal symmetries of a fully decomposed non-Abelian gerbe can be generated in terms of a nilpotent BRST operator, which is here constructed. The appearing fields find a natural interpretation in terms of the universal gerbe, a generalisation of the universal bundle. We comment on the construction of observables in the arising Topological Quantum Field Theory. It is also shown how the BRST operator and the trace part of a suitably truncated set of fields on the non-Abelian gerbe reduce directly to the coboundary operator and the pertinent cochains of the underlying ?ech–de Rham complex.     

Deformations of duality-symmetric theories

We prove that a sum of free non-covariant duality-symmetric actions does not allow consistent, continuous and local self-interactions that deform the gauge transformations. For instance, non-abelian deformations are not allowed, even in 4 dimensions where Yang–Mills type interactions of 1-forms are allowed in the non-manifestly duality-symmetric formulation. This suggests that non-abelian duality should require to leave the standard formalism of perturbative local field theories. The analyticity of self-interactions for a single duality-symmetric gauge field in four dimensions is also analyzed.     

Field-dependent symmetries in Friedmann–Robertson–Walker models

We consider effective actions of the cosmological Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) models and discuss their fermionic rigid BRST invariance. Further, we demonstrate the finite field-dependent BRST transformations as a limiting case of continuous field-dependent BRST transformations described in terms of continuous parameter κ$\kappa$. The Jacobian under such finite field-dependent BRST transformations is computed explicitly, which amounts an extra piece in the effective action within functional integral. We show that for a particular choice of a parameter the finite field-dependent BRST transformation maps the generating functional for FRW models from one gauge to another.     

Spinor Field Realizations of W2,6 String and W6 String

In this paper the spinor field BRST charges of the W_2,6 string and W₆ string are constructed, where the BRST charges are graded.     

Spinor Field Realizations of Non-critical W2,4 String Based on Linear WI,2,4 Algebra

In this paper, we investigate the spinor field realizations of the W2,4 algebra, making use of the fact that the W2,4 algebra can be linearized through the addition of a spin-1 current. And then the nilpotent BRST charges of the spinor non-critical W2,4 string were built with these realizations.