Transforming to Lorentz gauge on de Sitter

S. P. Miao, N.C. Tsamis, R.P. Woodard

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

We demonstrate that certain gauge fixing functionals cannot be added to the action on backgrounds such as de Sitter, in which a linearization instability is present. We also construct the field-dependent gauge transformation that carries the electromagnetic vector potential from a convenient, non-de Sitter invariant gauge to the de Sitter invariant, Lorentz gauge. The transformed propagator agrees with the de Sitter invariant result previously found by solving the propagator equation in Lorentz gauge. This shows that the gauge transformation technique will eliminate unphysical breaking of de Sitter invariance introduced by a gauge condition. It is suggested that the same technique can be used to finally resolve the issue of whether or not free gravitons are de Sitter invariant.
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)122502 /1-122502 /34
Number of pages34
JournalJournal of Mathematical Physics
Volume50
Issue number12
Publication statusPublished - 2009

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