Gaugeon Formalism for Spin-3/2 Rarita-Schwinger Gauge Field

TL;DR

This paper develops a gauge covariant quantization formalism for the spin-3/2 Rarita-Schwinger gauge field, demonstrating gauge parameter independence of the physical Hilbert space through quantum gauge transformations.

Contribution

It introduces a gauge covariant formalism with quantum gauge transformations that preserve the BRST charge, ensuring gauge parameter independence in the quantized theory.

Findings

Quantum gauge transformation shifts gauge fixing parameter

Physical Hilbert space remains gauge parameter independent

Formalism maintains gauge covariance in quantization

Abstract

We provide a gauge covariant formalism of the canonically quantized theory of spin-3/2 Rarita-Schwinger gauge field. The theory admits a quantum gauge transformation by which we can shift the gauge fixing parameter. The quantum gauge transformation does not change the BRST charge. Thus, the physical Hilbert space is trivially independent of the gauge fixing parameter.