Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Nonlinear self-duality in 4p dimensions

Sergei M. Kuzenko

Phys. Rev. D 114, 065007 – Published 8 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5fnm-4v1n

Abstract

Building on the earlier work by Araki and Tanii, Aschieri et al., and Buratti et al., we demonstrate that every model for self-dual nonlinear electrodynamics in four dimensions has a U(1) duality-invariant extension to 4p>4 dimensions, and construct new self-dual nonlinear theories for a gauge (2p−1)-form. We present a family of models for self-dual nonlinear (2p−1)-form electrodynamics in which the trace of the energy-momentum tensor determines the flow with respect to a duality-invariant deformation parameter. Finally, we propose the interesting problem of computing the so-called induced action in the case that self-dual (2p−1)-form electrodynamics is coupled to dilaton and axion fields, and the compact duality group U(1) is enhanced to the noncompact group SL(2,R).

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (66)

  1. M. K. Gaillard and B. Zumino, Duality rotations for interacting fields, Nucl. Phys. B193, 221 (1981).
  2. G. W. Gibbons and D. A. Rasheed, Electric-magnetic duality rotations in nonlinear electrodynamics, Nucl. Phys. B454, 185 (1995).
  3. G. W. Gibbons and D. A. Rasheed, SL(2,R) invariance of non-linear electrodynamics coupled to an axion and a dilaton, Phys. Lett. B 365, 46 (1996).
  4. M. K. Gaillard and B. Zumino, Self-duality in nonlinear electromagnetism, in Supersymmetry and Quantum Field Theory, edited by J. Wess and V. P. Akulov (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 1998), pp. 121–129.
  5. M. K. Gaillard and B. Zumino, Nonlinear electromagnetic self-duality and Legendre transformations, in Duality and Supersymmetric Theories, edited by D. I. Olive and P. C. West (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1999), pp. 33–48.
  6. S. M. Kuzenko and S. Theisen, Nonlinear self-duality and supersymmetry, Fortschr. Phys. 49, 273 (2001).
  7. P. Aschieri, S. Ferrara, and B. Zumino, Duality rotations in nonlinear electrodynamics and in extended supergravity, Riv. Nuovo Cimento 31, 625 (2008).
  8. S. M. Kuzenko and S. Theisen, Supersymmetric duality rotations, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2000) 034.
  9. S. M. Kuzenko and S. A. McCarthy, Nonlinear self-duality and supergravity, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2003) 038; On the component structure of N=1 supersymmetric nonlinear electrodynamics, 05 (2005) 012.
  10. S. M. Kuzenko, Nonlinear self-duality in N=2 supergravity, J. High Energy Phys. 06 (2012) 012.
  11. J. Broedel, J. J. M. Carrasco, S. Ferrara, R. Kallosh, and R. Roiban, N=2 supersymmetry and U(1)-duality, Phys. Rev. D 85, 125036 (2012).
  12. E. A. Ivanov and B. M. Zupnik, Self-dual N=2 Born-Infeld theory through auxiliary superfields, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2014) 061.
  13. Y. Tanii, Introduction to Supergravities in Diverse Dimensions, arXiv:hep-th/9802138.
  14. M. Araki and Y. Tanii, Duality symmetries in non-linear gauge theories, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 14, 1139 (1999).
  15. P. Aschieri, D. Brace, B. Morariu, and B. Zumino, Nonlinear self-duality in even dimensions, Nucl. Phys. B574, 551 (2000).
  16. I. Bialynicki-Birula, Nonlinear electrodynamics: Variations on a theme by Born and Infeld, in Quantum Theory of Particles and Fields, edited by B. Jancewicz and J. Lukierski (World Scientific, Singapore, 1983), pp. 31–48.
  17. M. Roček and A. A. Tseytlin, Partial breaking of global D=4 supersymmetry, constrained superfields, and 3-brane actions, Phys. Rev. D 59, 106001 (1999).
  18. J. Bagger and A. Galperin, A new Goldstone multiplet for partially broken supersymmetry, Phys. Rev. D 55, 1091 (1997).
  19. I. Antoniadis, H. Partouche, and T. R. Taylor, Spontaneous breaking of N=2 global supersymmetry, Phys. Lett. B 372, 83 (1996).
  20. G. Buratti, K. Lechner, and L. Melotti, Duality invariant self-interactions of abelian p-forms in arbitrary dimensions, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2019) 022.
  21. M. Cederwall, J. Hutomo, S. M. Kuzenko, K. Lechner, and D. P. Sorokin, Some remarks on invariants, J. Phys. A 59, 065203 (2026).
  22. Y. Tanii, N=8 supergravity in six dimensions, Phys. Lett. 145B, 197 (1984).
  23. S. Cecotti, S. Ferrara, and L. Girardello, Hidden non-compact symmetries in string theory, Nucl. Phys. B308, 436 (1988).
  24. E. Cremmer, B. Julia, H. Lü, and C. N. Pope, Dualisation of dualities. I, Nucl. Phys. B523, 73 (1998).
  25. E. Cremmer, B. Julia, H. Lü, and C. N. Pope, Dualisation of dualities. II: Twisted self-duality of doubled fields and superdualities, Nucl. Phys. B535, 242 (1998).
  26. D. Chruscinski, Strong field limit of the Born-Infeld p-form electrodynamics, Phys. Rev. D 62, 105007 (2000).
  27. S. M. Kuzenko, Nonlinear self-duality for arbitrary spin, superspin, and supersymmetry type, Universe 12, 179 (2026).
  28. M. Born and L. Infeld, Foundations of the new field theory, Proc. R. Soc. A 144, 425 (1934).
  29. I. Bandos, K. Lechner, D. Sorokin, and P. K. Townsend, A non-linear duality-invariant conformal extension of Maxwell’s equations, Phys. Rev. D 102, 121703 (2020).
  30. B. P. Kosyakov, Nonlinear electrodynamics with the maximum allowable symmetries, Phys. Lett. B 810, 135840 (2020).
  31. I. Bandos, K. Lechner, D. Sorokin, and P. K. Townsend, On p-form gauge theories and their conformal limits, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2021) 022.
  32. S. M. Kuzenko, Manifestly duality-invariant interactions in diverse dimensions, Phys. Lett. B 798, 134995 (2019).
  33. E. A. Ivanov and B. M. Zupnik, N=3 supersymmetric Born-Infeld theory, Nucl. Phys. B618, 3 (2001).
  34. E. A. Ivanov and B. M. Zupnik, New representation for Lagrangians of self-dual nonlinear electrodynamics, in Supersymmetries and Quantum Symmetries. Proceedings of the 16th Max Born Symposium, SQS’01: Karpacz, Poland, September 21–25, 2001, edited by E. Ivanov (JINR, Dubna, 2002), pp. 235–250.
  35. E. A. Ivanov and B. M. Zupnik, New approach to nonlinear electrodynamics: Dualities as symmetries of interaction, Phys. At. Nucl. 67, 2188 (2004) [Yad. Fiz. 67, 2212 (2004)].
  36. S. M. Kuzenko, Superconformal duality-invariant models and N=4 SYM effective action, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2021) 180.
  37. Á. J. Murcia, Novel duality-invariant theories of electrodynamics, Phys. Rev. D 112, L101902 (2025).
  38. Z. Avetisyan, O. Evnin, and K. Mkrtchyan, Nonlinear (chiral) p-form electrodynamics, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2022) 112.
  39. C. Ferko, S. M. Kuzenko, L. Smith, and G. Tartaglino-Mazzucchelli, Duality-invariant nonlinear electrodynamics and stress tensor flows, Phys. Rev. D 108, 106021 (2023).
  40. R. Conti, L. Iannella, S. Negro, and R. Tateo, Generalised Born-Infeld models, Lax operators and the TT¯ perturbation, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2018) 007.
  41. H. Babaei-Aghbolagh, K. B. Velni, D. M. Yekta, and H. Mohammadzadeh, Emergence of non-linear electrodynamic theories from TT¯-like deformations, Phys. Lett. B 829, 137079 (2022).
  42. C. Ferko, L. Smith, and G. Tartaglino-Mazzucchelli, On current-squared flows and ModMax theories, SciPost Phys. 13, 012 (2022).
  43. C. Ferko, S. M. Kuzenko, K. Lechner, D. P. Sorokin, and G. Tartaglino-Mazzucchelli, Interacting chiral form field theories and TT¯-like flows in six and higher dimensions, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2024) 320.
  44. J. Hutomo, K. Lechner, and D. P. Sorokin, On non-linear chiral 4-form theories in D=10, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2026) 147.
  45. S. M. Kuzenko and K. Turner, Effective actions for dual massive (super) p-forms, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2021) 040.
  46. H. Babaei-Aghbolagh, K. Babaei Velni, D. M. Yekta, and H. Mohammadzadeh, TT¯-like flows in non-linear electrodynamic theories and S-duality, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2021) 187.
  47. I. A. Batalin and G. A. Vilkovisky, Quantization of gauge theories with linearly dependent generators, Phys. Rev. D 28, 2567 (1983); 30, 508(E) (1984).
  48. L. D. Faddeev and V. N. Popov, Feynman diagrams for the Yang-Mills field, Phys. Lett. 25B, 29 (1967).
  49. A. S. Schwarz, The partition function of degenerate quadratic functional and Ray-Singer invariants, Lett. Math. Phys. 2, 247 (1978).
  50. A. S. Schwarz, The partition function of a degenerate functional, Commun. Math. Phys. 67, 1 (1979).
  51. W. Siegel, Hidden ghosts, Phys. Lett. 93B, 170 (1980).
  52. J. Thierry-Mieg, BRS structure of the antisymmetric tensor gauge theories, Nucl. Phys. B335, 334 (1990).
  53. Y. N. Obukhov, The geometrical approach to antisymmetric tensor field theory, Phys. Lett. 109B, 195 (1982).
  54. I. L. Buchbinder and S. M. Kuzenko, Quantization of the classically equivalent theories in the superspace of simple supergravity and quantum equivalence, Nucl. Phys. B308, 162 (1988).
  55. H. Osborn, Local couplings and SL(2,R) invariance for gauge theories at one loop, Phys. Lett. B 561, 174 (2003).
  56. I. L. Buchbinder, N. G. Pletnev, and A. A. Tseytlin, Induced N=4 conformal supergravity, Phys. Lett. B 717, 274 (2012).
  57. E. S. Fradkin and A. A. Tseytlin, Asymptotic freedom in extended conformal supergravities, Phys. Lett. 110B, 117 (1982); One-loop beta function in conformal supergravities, Nucl. Phys. B203, 157 (1982).
  58. S. M. Paneitz, A quartic conformally covariant differential operator for arbitrary pseudo-Riemannian manifolds, SIGMA 4, 036 (2008).
  59. R. J. Riegert, A non-local action for the trace anomaly, Phys. Lett. 134B, 56 (1984).
  60. D. T. Grasso, S. M. Kuzenko, and J. R. Pinelli, Weyl invariance, non-compact duality and conformal higher-derivative sigma models, Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 206 (2023).
  61. C. R. Graham, R. Jenne, L. J. Mason, and G. Sparling, Conformally invariant powers of the Laplacian, I: Existence, J. Lond. Math. Soc. 46, 557 (1992).
  62. A. R. Gover and L. J. Peterson, Conformally invariant powers of the Laplacian, Q-curvature, and tractor calculus, Commun. Math. Phys. 235, 339 (2003).
  63. R. Manvelyan, K. Mkrtchyan, and R. Mkrtchyan, Conformal invariant powers of the Laplacian, Fefferman-Graham ambient metric and Ricci gauging, Phys. Lett. B 657, 112 (2007).
  64. A. Juhl, Explicit formulas for GJMS-operators and Q-curvatures, Geom. Funct. Anal. 23, 1278 (2013).
  65. T. P. Branson, Differential operators canonically associated to a conformal structure, Math. Scand. 57, 293 (1985).
  66. V. Wünsch, On conformally invariant differential operators, Mathematische Nachrichten 129, 269 (1986).

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation