Universal Superspace Unitary Operator and Nilpotent (Anti-)dual BRST Symmetries: Superfield Formalism

Abstract: We exploit the key concepts of the augmented version of superfield approach to Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) formalism to derive the superspace (SUSP) dual unitary operator (and its Hermitian conjugate) and demonstrate their utility in the derivation of the nilpotent and absolutely anticommuting (anti-)dual BRST symmetry transformations for a set of interesting models of the Abelian 1-form gauge theories. These models are the one (0+1)-dimensional (1D) rigid rotor, modified versions of the two (1+1)-dimensional (2D) Proca as well as anomalous gauge theories and 2D model of a self-dual bosonic field theory. We show the universality of the SUSP dual unitary operator and its Hermitian conjugate in the cases of all the Abelian models under consideration. These SUSP dual unitary operators, besides maintaining the explicit group structure, provide the alternatives to the dual-horizontality condition (DHC) and dual-gauge invariant restrictions (DGIRs) of the superfield formalism. The derivation of the dual unitary operators and corresponding (anti-)dual BRST symmetries are completely novel results in our present investigation.