Irreducible Antifield Analysis of $p$-Form Gauge Theories

TL;DR

This paper presents an irreducible antifield formalism for p-form gauge theories that simplifies the treatment of gauge invariances by avoiding ghosts of ghosts and higher antifields, ensuring acyclicity efficiently.

Contribution

It introduces a novel irreducible antifield formalism for p-form gauge theories that eliminates the need for ghosts of ghosts and higher antifields, simplifying the gauge structure.

Findings

Acyclicity of the Koszul-Tate operator is achieved without higher antifields.

Ghosts of ghosts do not appear in the formalism.

The approach simplifies the analysis of p-form gauge theories.

Abstract

The irreducible antifield formalism for $p$-form gauge theories with gauge invariant interaction terms is exposed. The ghosts of ghosts do not appear. The acyclicity of the Koszul-Tate operator is ensured without introducing antifields at resolution degrees higher that two.