Dynamical edge modes in p-form gauge theories

Abstract We extend our recently identified dynamical edge mode boundary condition to p-form gauge theories, revealing their edge modes as Goldstone bosons arising from gauge transformations with support on the boundary. The symplectic conjugates of these edge modes correspond to the electric-field-l...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Adam Ball, Y. T. Albert Law
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-02-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2025)182
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Summary:Abstract We extend our recently identified dynamical edge mode boundary condition to p-form gauge theories, revealing their edge modes as Goldstone bosons arising from gauge transformations with support on the boundary. The symplectic conjugates of these edge modes correspond to the electric-field-like components normal to the boundary. We demonstrate that both the symplectic form and the Hamiltonian naturally decompose into bulk and edge parts. When the boundary is a stretched horizon, we show that the thermal edge partition function reduces to that of a codimension-two ghost (p – 1)-form residing on the bifurcation surface. These findings provide a dynamical framework that elucidates observations made by several authors. Additionally, we generalize Donnelly and Wall’s non-dynamical approach to obtain edge partition functions for both massive and massless p-forms. In the context of a de Sitter static patch, these results are consistent with the edge partition functions found by several authors in arbitrary dimensions.
ISSN:1029-8479