On the gauge invariance of the higher-derivative Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons action

Abstract: In this work, we study the perturbative generation of the gauge invariant effective action for the non-Abelian gauge field in a $(2+1)$-dimensional spacetime. We present a detailed analysis of the two, three and four-point functions in order to determine the non-Abelian Chern-Simons terms (parity odd) and Yang-Mills terms (parity even). Moreover, these terms are supplemented by the higher-derivative corrections which resulted in the Alekseev-Arbuzov-Baikov effective action (parity even) plus the higher-derivative (HD) corrections to the Chern-Simons terms (parity odd). In order to highlight some features about the perturbative generation of the effective action, we present a discussion based on the dimensional analysis, which allows us to establish the general structure of the permissible terms to guarantee the gauge invariance of the higher-derivative parts.