New insights into abelian topologically massive gauge theories

TL;DR

This paper introduces a gauge-invariant phase space factorization in abelian topologically massive gauge theories, clarifying the relationship between massive excitations and topological field theories through canonical quantization.

Contribution

It presents a novel gauge-invariant phase space decomposition that explicitly separates dynamical massive modes from topological sectors in TMGT.

Findings

Phase space factorization clarifies the structure of TMGT.

Quantum states can be projected onto topological quantum field theories.

The approach enhances understanding of mass generation in gauge theories.

Abstract

Abelian topologically massive gauge theories (TMGT) provide a topological mechanism to generate mass for any p-tensor boson in any dimension. Within the Hamiltonian formulation, the embedded topological field theory (TFT) is not made manifest. We therefore introduce a gauge invariant factorization of the classical phase space in two orthogonal sectors. The first of these sectors is that of gauge invariant dynamical variables with massive excitations. The second is that of a decoupled TFT. Through canonical quantization, a factorization of quantum states arises, enabling the projection from TMGT onto topological quantum field theories in a most transparent way.