B. Geyer et D. Mulsch, Superspace formulation of general massive gauge theories and geometric interpretation of mass-dependent Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin symmetries, J MATH PHYS, 41(11), 2000, pp. 7304-7332
A superspace formulation is proposed for the osp(1,2)-covariant Lagrangian
quantization of general massive gauge theories. The superalgebra osp(1,2) i
s considered as subalgebra of the superalgebra sl(1,2)similar to osp(2,2) w
hich may be considered as the algebra of generators of the conformal group
in a superspace with two anticommuting coordinates. The mass-dependent (ant
i)Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin symmetries of proper solutions of the quantum m
aster equations in the osp(1,2)-covariant formalism are realized in that su
perspace as invariance under translations combined with mass-dependent spec
ial conformal transformations. The Sp(2) symmetry-in particular the ghost n
umber conservation-and the new ghost number conservation are realized in th
e superspace as invariance under symplectic rotations and dilatations, resp
ectively. The new ghost number conservation is generally broken by the choi
ce of a gauge. The transformations of the gauge fields and the full set of
necessarily required (anti)ghost and auxiliary fields under the superalgebr
a sl(1,2) are determined both for irreducible and first-stage reducible the
ories with closed gauge algebra. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S
0022-2488(00)00310-8].