Weak Gauge PDEs

Gauge PDEs generalise the AKSZ construction when dealing with generic local gauge theories. Despite being very flexible and invariant, these geometrical objects are usually infinite-dimensional and are difficult to define explicitly, just like standard infinitely-prolonged PDEs. We propose a notion of a weak gauge PDE in which the nilpotency of the BRST differential is relaxed in a controllable way. In this approach a nontopological local gauge theory can be described in terms of a finite-dimensional geometrical object. Moreover, among the equivalent weak gauge PDEs describing a given system, a minimal one can usually be found and is unique in a certain sense. In the case of a Lagrangian system, the respective weak gauge PDE naturally arises from its weak presymplectic formulation. We prove that any weak gauge PDE determines the standard jet-bundle Batalin-Vilkovisky formulation of the underlying gauge theory, giving an unambiguous physical interpretation of these objects. The formalism is illustrated by a few examples, including the non-Lagrangian self-dual Yang-Mills theory and a finite jet-bundle. We also discuss possible applications of the approach to the characterisation of those infinite-dimensional gauge PDEs that correspond to local theories.