$q$-form field on a $p$-brane with codimension two

Abstract

In this paper, by performing a general Kaluza-Klein (KK) decomposition, we obtain a gauge invariant effective action for a bulk massless $q$-form field on a $p$-brane with codimension two. There appear four types of KK modes: two $(q-1)$-forms and one $(q-2)$-form in addtion to the ordinary $q$-form, which are essential for the gauge invariance. Due to the two extra dimensions, we find eight Schrödinger-like equations for the four modes and their mass spectra are closely related. Moreover, via this decomposition mechanism, the Hodge duality in the bulk naturally induces four coupled dualities on the brane, which guarantees that the physical equavalence of bulk dual fields is preserved under the dimensional reduction.