Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications (Jan 2008)

Generalized Symmetries of Massless Free Fields on Minkowski Space

  • Stephen C. Anco,
  • Juha Pohjanpelto

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4
p. 004

Abstract

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A complete and explicit classification of generalized, or local, symmetries of massless free fields of spin s ≥ 1/2 is carried out. Up to equivalence, these are found to consists of the conformal symmetries and their duals, new chiral symmetries of order 2s, and their higher-order extensions obtained by Lie differentiation with respect to conformal Killing vectors. In particular, the results yield a complete classification of generalized symmetries of the Dirac-Weyl neutrino equation, Maxwell's equations, and the linearized gravity equations.

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