We establish the equivalence of the Maxwell-Chern-Simons-Proca model to a doublet of Maxwell-Chern-Simons models at the level of polarization vectors of the basic fields using both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. The analysis reveals a U(1) invariance of the polarization vectors in the momentum space. Its implications are discussed. We also study the role of Wigner's little group as a generator of gauge transformations in three space-time dimensions.

The role of Wigner's little group in 2 + 1 dimensions as a generator of gauge transformation in the topologically massive Maxwell–Chern–Simons (MCS) theory is discussed. The similarities and dissimilarities between the Maxwell and MCS theories in the context of gauge fixing (spatial transversality and temporal gauge) are also analyzed.

We show that the translational subgroup of Wigner's little group for massless particles in 3+1 dimensions generate gauge transformation in linearized Einstein gravity. Similarly a suitable representation of the 1-dimensional translational group T (1) is shown to generate gauge transformation in the linearized Einstein-Chern-Simons theory in 2+1 dimensions. These representations are derived systematically from appropriate representations of translational groups which generate gauge transformations in gauge theories living in spacetime of one higher dimension by the technique of dimensional descent. The unified picture thus obtained is compared with a similar picture available for vector gauge theories in 3+1 and 2+1 dimensions. Finally, the polarization tensor of Einstein-Pauli-Fierz theory in 2+1 dimensions is shown to split into the polarization tensors of a pair of Einstein-Chern-Simons theories with opposite helicities suggesting a doublet structure for Einstein-Pauli-Fierz theory.

We examine the gauge generating nature of the translational subgroup of Wigner's little group for the case of massless tensor gauge theories and show that the gauge transformations generated by the translational group is only a subset of the complete set of gauge transformations. We also show that, just like the case of topologically massive gauge theories, translational groups act as generators of gauge transformations in gauge theories obtained by extending massive gauge noninvariant theories by a Stuckelberg mechanism. The representations of the translational groups that generate gauge transformations in such Stuckelberg extended theories can be obtained by the method of dimensional descent. We illustrate these with the examples of Stuckelberg extended first class versions of Proca, Einstein-Pauli-Fierz and massive Kalb-Ramond theories in 3+1 dimensions. A detailed analysis of the partial gauge generation in massive and massless 2nd rank symmetric gauge theories is provided. The gauge transformations generated by translational group in 2-form gauge theories are shown to explicitly manifest the reducibility of gauge transformations in these theories.Comment: Latex, 20 pages, no figures, Version to appear in Physical Review