Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: A characteristic feature of topological field theories is the absence of local propagating degrees of freedom. In four-dimensional BF theory with cosmological term, we make this feature manifest by exactly reducing the finite non-Abelian shift symmetry. We do so by identifying a higher dressing field, a 1-form compensating the shift, allowing to build from first principles the composite shift-invariant field $\boldsymbol{B}=B-λ^{-1}F$. In terms of this dressed field, the dynamics becomes algebraic and sets $\boldsymbol{B}=0$, directly exposing the absence of local propagating degrees of freedom. This provides the first explicit instance of the higher-form Dressing Field Method.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: François, J., Ravera, L.
Institutions: University of Graz, Masaryk University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7221781038