Non-Abelian Chiral 2-Form and M5-Branes

Abstract

We first review self-dual (chiral) gauge field theories by studying their Lorentz non-covariant and Lorentz covariant formulations. We next construct a non-Abelian self-dual two-form gauge theory in six dimensions with a spatial direction compactified on a circle. This model reduces to the Yang-Mills theory in five dimensions for a small compactified radius R. The model also reduces to the Lorentz-invariant Abelian self-dual two-form theory when the gauge group is Abelian. The model is expected to describe multiple 5-branes in M-theory. We also discuss its decompactified limit, covariant formulation, BRST-antifield quantization and other generalizations.