English

A minimal b ghost

High Energy Physics - Theory 2023-01-02 v1

Abstract

The bb ghost, or bb operator, used for fixing Siegel gauge in the pure spinor superfield formalism, is a composite operator of negative ghost number, satisfying {q,b}=\{q,b\}=\square, where qq is the pure spinor differential (BRST operator). It is traditionally constructed using non-minimal variables. However, since all cohomology has minimal representatives, it seems likely that there should be versions of physically meaningful operators, also with negative ghost number, using only minimal variables. The purpose of this letter is to demonstrate that this statement holds by providing a concrete construction in D=10D=10 super-Yang-Mills theory, and to argue that it is a general feature in the pure spinor superfield formalism.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2212.14417,
  title  = {A minimal b ghost},
  author = {Martin Cederwall},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2212.14417},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

9 pp

R2 v1 2026-06-28T07:56:18.909Z