Constraint characterization and degree of freedom counting in Lagrangian field theory

We present a Lagrangian approach to counting degrees of freedom in first-order field theories. The emphasis is on the systematic attainment of a complete set of constraints. In particular, we provide the first comprehensive procedure to ensure the functional independence of all constraints and discu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2024-02
Main Authors: Verónica Errasti Díez, Maier, Markus, Méndez-Zavaleta, Julio A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Degrees of freedom
Field theory
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:We present a Lagrangian approach to counting degrees of freedom in first-order field theories. The emphasis is on the systematic attainment of a complete set of constraints. In particular, we provide the first comprehensive procedure to ensure the functional independence of all constraints and discuss in detail the possible closures of the constraint algorithm. We argue degrees of freedom can but need not correspond to physical modes. The appendix comprises fully worked out, physically relevant examples of varying complexity.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2310.12218