Coupling of branes and twisted self-duality in the Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory

Abstract

Abstract We study three approaches to electric-magnetic duality in the 4-dimensional Maxwell theory coupled to a dyonic point charge and in the 5-dimensional Maxwell-Chern-Simons (MCS) theory coupled to an electric point charge and a magnetic string charge. The three approaches have been developed by Dirac, Bunster and Henneaux, and Pasti, Sorokin and Tonin (PST). In Dirac’s formulation, the electric magnetic duality is realized only on the level of the equations of motion. The other two formulations introduce a dual (magnetic) gauge potential to induce manifest twisted self-duality in the action. In particular, we study the relations connecting the three approaches. The main results of this paper are the Bunster-Henneaux and PST formulations of the MCS theory with sources. We compare our result to the PST formulation of 11-dimensional supergravity coupled to the M2- and M5-brane by Bandos, Berkovits, and Sorokin.