BRST approach to Lagrangian formulation of bosonic totally antisymmeric tensor fields in curved space

We apply the BRST approach, previously developed for higher spin field theories, to gauge invariant Lagrangian construction for antisymmetric massive and massless bosonic fields in arbitrary d-dimensional curved space. The obtained theories are reducible gauge models both in massless and massive cases and the order of reducibility grows with the value of the rank of the antisymmetric field. In both the cases the Lagrangians contain the sets of auxiliary fields and possess more rich gauge symmetry in comparison with standard Lagrangian formulation for the antisymmetric fields. This serves additional demonstration of universality of the BRST approach for Lagrangian constructions in various field models.Comment: 12 page

Conformal self-dual fields

Conformal self-dual fields in flat space-time of even dimension greater than or equal to four are studied. Ordinary-derivative formulation of such fields is developed. Gauge invariant Lagrangian with conventional kinetic terms and corresponding gauge transformations are obtained. Gauge symmetries are realized by involving the Stueckelberg fields. Realization of global conformal symmetries is obtained. Light-cone gauge Lagrangian is found. Also, we demonstrate use of the light-cone gauge for counting of on-shell degrees of freedom of the conformal self-dual fields.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX-2e, v3: Discussion of realization of conformal algebra symmetries on field strengths added to Sections 3,5. Appendices B,C,D and one reference added. Typos correcte

6d conformal gravity

In the framework of ordinary-derivative approach, conformal gravity in space-time of dimension six is studied. The field content, in addition to conformal graviton field, includes two auxiliary rank-2 symmetric tensor fields, two Stueckelberg vector fields and one Stueckelberg scalar field. Gauge invariant Lagrangian with conventional kinetic terms and the corresponding gauge transformations are obtained. One of the rank-2 tensor fields and the scalar field have canonical conformal dimension. With respect to these fields, the Lagrangian contains, in addition to other terms, a cubic potential. Gauging away the Stueckelberg fields and excluding the auxiliary fields via equations of motion, the higher-derivative Lagrangian of 6d conformal gravity is obtained. The higher derivative Lagrangian involves quadratic and cubic curvature terms. This higher-derivative Lagrangian coincides with the simplest Weyl invariant density discussed in the earlier literature. Generalization of de Donder gauge conditions to 6d conformal fields is also obtained.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX-2e, v3: Footnotes 8,9,13, clarifying remark below Eq.(2.30), and references added. Misprints correcte