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Symmetries beget symmetries: Ghostly higher-form symmetries and the descent equation

2 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

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abstract

Viewed through the lens of the Batalin-Vilkovisky formalism, we demonstrate that higher-form currents with nonzero ghost number also define higher-form symmetries, directly analogous to the standard higher-form symmetries with ghost number zero. These ghostly higher symmetries descend from and into conventional higher-form symmetries via chains of descent equations familiar from the theory of anomalies and topological field theories. We give examples of such chains of ghostly symmetries in Maxwell theory, Abelian and non-Abelian higher gauge theory, Yang-Mills theory, and beyond.

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hep-th 2

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2026 2

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representative citing papers

Notes on (-2)-form symmetries

hep-th · 2026-06-04 · conditional · novelty 6.0

(-2)-form symmetries are realized as non-genuine defects in the Symmetry TFT and relate theories with different anomaly or associator data.

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Showing 2 of 2 citing papers.

  • Notes on (-2)-form symmetries hep-th · 2026-06-04 · conditional · none · ref 49 · internal anchor

    (-2)-form symmetries are realized as non-genuine defects in the Symmetry TFT and relate theories with different anomaly or associator data.

  • Generalised Symmetries and Swampland-Type Constraints from Charge Quantisation via Rational Homotopy Theory hep-th · 2026-04-24 · unverdicted · none · ref 69 · 2 links · internal anchor

    Refines charge quantization via homotopy type A whose homotopy groups classify brane charges and homology groups classify higher-form symmetries, deriving swampland-like constraints that rule out noncompact gauge groups and non-nilpotent Lie algebras for field strengths.