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arXiv · hep-th/9702184

Duality, Self-Duality, Sources and Charge Quantization in Abelian N-Form Theories

S. Deser·A. Gomberoff·M. Henneaux·C. Teitelboim
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Abstract

We investigate duality properties of N-form fields, provide a symmetric way of coupling them to electric/magnetic sources, and check that these charges obey the appropriate quantization requirements. First, we contrast the D=4k case, in which duality is a well-defined SO(2) rotation generated by a Chern-Simons form leaving the action invariant, and D=4k+2 where the corresponding ostensibly SO(1,1) rotation is not only not an invariance but does not even have a generator. When charged sources are included we show explicitly in the Maxwell case how the usual Dirac quantization arises in a fully symmetric approach attaching strings to both types of charges. Finally, for D=4k+2 systems, we show how charges can be introduced for self-dual (2k)-forms, and obtain the D=4k models with sources by dimensional reduction, tracing their duality invariance to a partial invariance in the higher dimensions.

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S. Deser, A. Gomberoff, M. Henneaux, C. Teitelboim. 1997-02-26. Duality, Self-Duality, Sources and Charge Quantization in Abelian N-Form Theories. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0370-2693(97)00338-9

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