English

Causal chiral 2-form electrodynamics

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-07-04 v2

Abstract

Generic nonlinear theories of chiral 2-form electrodynamics allow superluminal propagation in some stationary homogeneous backgrounds and are therefore acausal. We find a simple parameterisation of the Hamiltonian for causal theories, and we use it to show that the stress-energy tensor satisfies both the Dominant and Strong energy conditions. We also revisit the Perry-Schwarz formulation, clarifying aspects of it and of its relation to the Hamiltonian formulation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.01467,
  title  = {Causal chiral 2-form electrodynamics},
  author = {Jorge G. Russo and Paul K. Townsend},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.01467},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

31 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T22:43:29.257Z