Related papers: On the geometry of ghosts
When an antisymmetric tensor potential is coupled to the field strength of a gauge field via a $B\wedge F$ coupling and a kinetic term for $B$ is included, the gauge field develops an effective mass. The theory can be made invariant under a…
In this note, we attempt to provide some insights into the structure of non-perturbative descriptions of quantum gravity using known examples of gauge-theory / gravity duality. We argue that in familiar examples, a quantum description of…
The unfree gauge symmetry implies that gauge variation of the action functional vanishes provided for the gauge parameters are restricted by the differential equations. The unfree gauge symmetry is shown to lead to the global conserved…
The BRST quantization of strings is revisited and the derivation of the path integral measure for scattering amplitudes is streamlined. Gauge invariances due to zero modes in the ghost sector are taken into account by using the…
We provide a conceptual assessment of some aspects of fundamental quantum field theories of gravity in light of foundational aspects of the swampland program. On the one hand, asymptotically safe quantum gravity may provide a simple and…
These are a set of lecture notes on generalized global symmetries in quantum field theory. The focus is on invertible symmetries with a few comments regarding non-invertible symmetries. The main topics covered are the basics of higher-form…
The characteristic cohomology $H^k_{char}(d)$ for an arbitrary set of free $p$-form gauge fields is explicitly worked out in all form degrees $k<n-1$, where $n$ is the spacetime dimension. It is shown that this cohomology is…
Lagrangian classical field theory of even and odd fields is adequately formulated in terms of fibre bundles and graded manifolds. In particular, conventional Yang-Mills gauge theory is theory of connections on smooth principal bundles, but…
We investigate the possibility that a background independent quantum theory of gravity is not a theory of quantum geometry. We provide a way for global spacetime symmetries to emerge from a background independent theory without geometry. In…
Finsler geometry motivates a generalization of the Riemannian structure of spacetime to include dependence of the spacetime metric and associated invariant tensor fields on the four-velocity coordinates as well as the spacetime coordinates…
The antifields of the Batalin-Vilkovisky Lagrangian quantization are standard antighosts of certain collective fields. These collective fields ensure that Schwinger-Dyson equations are satisfied as a consequence of the gauge symmetry…
We review the formulation of quantum field theories with purely virtual particles, a new type of degrees of freedom that can mediate interactions without ever appear as external on-shell states. This property allows to solve the problem of…
We construct the off-shell BV realization of N=1, d=10 SYM with 7 auxillary fields. This becomes possible due to materialized ghost phenomenon. Namely, supersymmetry ghosts are coordinates on a manifold B of 10-dimensional spinors with pure…
We study properties of supergravity theories with non-compact gaugings, and their higher-dimensional interpretations via consistent reductions on the inhomogeneous non-compact hyperboloidal spaces {\cal H}^{p,q}. The gauged supergravities…
We present the foundations of a new emerging interpretation of quantum theory bearing wide-range implications. Physical basis of the interpretation is non-questionable yet relatively new--it relies on the different structures…
We exploit boundary term to preserve the supersymmetric gauge invariance of Bagger--Lambert--Gustavsson (BLG) theory. The fermionic rigid BRST and anti-BRST symmetries are studied in linear and non-linear gauges. Remarkably, for…
In this manuscript we will present the theoretical framework of the recently proposed infinite derivative theory of gravity with a non-symmetric connection. We will explicitly derive the field equations at the linear level and obtain new…
A theory of principal bundles possessing quantum structure groups and classical base manifolds is presented. Structural analysis of such quantum principal bundles is performed. A differential calculus is constructed, combining differential…
We present a BRST symmetric gaugeon formalism for the two-form gauge fields. A set of vector gaugeon fields is introduced as a quantum gauge freedom. One of the gaugeon fields satisfies a higher derivative field equation; this property is…
We introduce topological gauge fields as nontrivial field configurations enforced by topological currents. These fields crucially determine the form of statistical gauge fields that couple to matter and transmute their statistics. We…