Noether Theorem and Nilpotency Property of the (Anti-)BRST Charges in the BRST Formalism: A Brief Review

Abstract

In some of the physically interesting gauge systems, we show that the application of the Noether theorem does not lead to the deduction of the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) and anti-BRST charges that obey precisely the off-shell nilpotency property despite the fact that these charges are $(i)$ derived by using the off-shell nilpotent (anti-)BRST symmetry transformations, $(ii)$ the generators of the above continuous symmetry transformations, and $(iii)$ conserved w.r.t. the time-evolution due to the Euler-Lagrange equations of motion derived from the Lagrangians/Lagrangian densities (that describe the dynamics of the suitably chosen physical systems). We propose a systematic method for the derivation of the off-shell nilpotent (anti-)BRST charges from the corresponding {non-nilpotent Noether conserved (anti-)BRST charges. To corroborate the sanctity and preciseness of our proposal, we take into account the examples of $(i)$ the one ($0 + 1$)-dimensional (1D) system of a massive spinning (i.e. SUSY) relativistic particle, $(ii)$ the D-dimensional non-Abelian 1-form gauge theory, and $(iii)$ the Abelian 2-form and the St${\ddot u}$ckelberg-modified version of the massive Abelian 3-form gauge theories in any arbitrary D-dimension of spacetime. Our present endeavor is a brief review where some decisive proposals have been made and a few novel results have been obtained as far as the nilpotency property is concerned.