On p-form theories with gauge invariant second order field equations

Understand

We explore field theories of a single p-form with equations of motions of order strictly equal to two and gauge invariance.

• We give a general method for the classification of such theories which are extensions to the p-forms of the Galileon models for scalars.
• Our classification scheme allows to compute an upper bound on the number of different such theories depending on p and on the space-time dimension.
• We are also able to build a non trivial Galileon like theory for a 3-form with gauge invariance and an action which is polynomial into the derivatives of the form.