On Duality Invariant Yang-Mills Theory

TL;DR

This paper constructs a duality-invariant, interacting version of Maxwell theory in four dimensions using BRST quantization, revealing a novel gauge symmetry based on an associative algebra.

Contribution

It introduces a new formulation of duality-invariant Yang-Mills theory with interacting 1- and 3-forms, emphasizing a BRST approach and associative gauge symmetry.

Findings

Explicit duality-invariant Maxwell deformation constructed

Formulation uses BRST quantization with interacting forms

Reveals gauge invariance based on associative algebra

Abstract

We provide an explicit construction of a manifestly duality invariant, interacting deformation of Maxwell theory in four dimensions in terms of mutually local, but interacting 1- and 3-forms. Interestingly, our theory is formulated directly as a BRST quantized gauge theory, while the underlying gauge invariant Lagrangian before gauge fixing is obscured. Furthermore, the underlying gauge invariance is based on an associative, rather than a Lie symmetry.