Antisymmetric tensor fields: actions, symmetries and first order Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau formulations

Analyzing the representations of the Lorentz group, we give a systematic count and construction of all the possible Lagrangians describing an antisymmetric rank two tensor field. The count yields two scalars: the gauge invariant Kalb-Ramond model, equivalent to the sigma model and familiar from super gravity and string theory, and the conformally invariant Avdeev-Chizhov model, which describes self-dual tensors. The count also includes a third invariant, a pseudoscalar, which is an antisymmetrized form of the Avdeev-Chizhov Lagrangian, first noticed in the SU(2/1) superalgebraic model of the weak interactions. This model is also conformally invariant, and naturally implements the Landau CP symmetry. Then, by extending the Duffin-Kemmer-Petiau 10 component formalism, we recover the model Lagrangians as first order systems. To complete the analysis we classify all local Lorentz invariant potentials (mass terms and quartic couplings) for charged antisymmetric tensor fields coupled to a Yang-Mills field.