Unravelling the novel Higgs mechanism in (2+1)d Chern-Simons theories

Understand

Chern-Simons gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions with multiple gauge fields exhibit novel properties that are analysed here in some detail.

• A striking feature is the possibility of a non-propagating Chern-Simons field acquiring a massless propagating mode via a Higgs mechanism.
• This novel Higgs mechanism, originally discovered in the context of M-theory, is studied here without reference to M-theory or supersymmetry.
• It is revealed as a variant of topological mass generation and shown to arise only when Chern-Simons and mass matrices are not simultaneously diagonalisable.