Reducible systems and embedding procedures in the canonical formalism

We propose a systematic method of dealing with the canonical constrained structure of reducible systems in the Dirac and symplectic approaches which involves an enlargement of phase and configuration spaces, respectively. It is not necessary, as in the Dirac approach, to isolate the independent subset of constraints or to introduce, as in the symplectic analysis, a series of lagrange multipliers-for-lagrange multipiers. This analysis illuminates the close connection between the Dirac and symplectic approaches of treating reducible theories, which is otherwise lacking. The example of p-form gauge fields (p=2,3) is analyzed in details.Comment: Latex 23 pages, some corrections and improvements in the text. To appear in Annals of Physic

BV QUANTIZATION OF A VECTOR-TENSOR GAUGE THEORY WITH TOPOLOGICAL COUPLING

We use the BV quantization method for a theory with coupled tensor and vector gauge fields through a topological term. We consider in details the reducibility of the tensorial sector as well as the appearance of a mass term in the effective vectorial theory .Comment: 10 pages, Late

Axial and gauge anomalies in a theory with one and two-form gauge fields

We study the problem of axial and gauge anomalies in a reducible theory involving vector and tensor gauge fields coupled in a topological way. We consider that vector and axial fermionic currents couple with the tensor field in the same topological manner as the vector gauge one. This kind of coupling leads to an anomalous axial current, contrarily to the results found in literature involving other tensor couplings, where no anomaly is obtained.Comment: 9 pages, Latex - To appear in Phys. Lett.

Compactification of gauge theories and the gauge invariance of massive modes

We study the gauge invariance of the massive modes in the compactification of gauge theories from D=5 to D=4. We deal with Abelian gauge theories of rank one and two, and with non-Abelian ones of rank one. We show that St\"uckelberg fields naturally appear in the compactification mechanism, contrarily to what usually occurs in literature where they are introduced by hand, as a trick, to render gauge invariance for massive theories. We also show that in the non-Abelian case they appear in a very different way when compared with their usual implementation in the non-Abelian Proca model.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex (multicol), minor correction

Functional versus canonical quantization of a nonlocal massive vector-gauge theory

It has been shown in literature that a possible mechanism of mass generation for gauge fields is through a topological coupling of vector and tensor fields. After integrating over the tensor degrees of freedom, one arrives at an effective massive theory that, although gauge invariant, is nonlocal. Here we quantize this nonlocal resulting theory both by path integral and canonical procedures. This system can be considered as equivalent to one with an infinite number of time derivatives and consequently an infinite number of momenta. This means that the use of the canonical formalism deserves some care. We show the consistency of the formalism we use in the canonical procedure by showing that the obtained propagators are the same as those of the (Lagrangian) path integral approach. The problem of nonlocality appears in the obtainment of the spectrum of the theory. This fact becomes very transparent when we list the infinite number of commutators involving the fields and their velocities.Comment: 12 pages, Latex, to appear in J. Math. Phy