1997/02/26 by S. Deser, A. Gomberoff, M. Henneaux +1 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Quantum Mechanics and Non-Hermitian Physics #Topological Materials and Phenomena #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/s0370-2693(97)00338-9
published as Phys.Lett.B400:80-86,1997 · 13 pages, Latex
arxiv created 1997/02/26 · openalex publication_date 1997/05/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
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.