Mass Generating Antisymmetric Tensor Field Theories

TL;DR

This paper explores a class of antisymmetric tensor field theories in D-dimensional space, revealing gauge invariances and a generalized Higgs mechanism that generates mass through sequential field interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework for mass generation in tensor field theories via a sequence of gauge-invariant actions and Higgs-like mechanisms.

Findings

Sequence length depends on spacetime dimension D

Mass can be generated without explicit symmetry breaking

Theories exhibit gauge invariance similar to Maxwell's field

Abstract

We study a set of theories built on a ranked sequence of antisymmetric tensor fields in D dimensional space-time. These linear theories exhibit gauge invariances that are analogous to the local gauge invariance of a massless vector (Maxwell) field. By appropriate arrangements of pairs of sequentially ranked interacting fields in each member of a series of action functionals, we produce a sequence of corresponding Higgs mechanism generalizations. Therefore, mass arises in one field of each pair at the expense of the independent existence of the other. The length of the sequence is determined by D.