{
  "abstract": "A characteristic feature of topological field theories is the absence of local propagating degrees of freedom. In four-dimensional BF theory with cosmological term, we make this feature manifest by exactly reducing the finite non-Abelian shift symmetry. We do so by identifying a higher dressing field, a 1-form compensating the shift, allowing to build from first principles the composite shift-invariant field $\\boldsymbol{B}=B-λ^{-1}F$. In terms of this dressed field, the dynamics becomes algebraic and sets $\\boldsymbol{B}=0$, directly exposing the absence of local propagating degrees of freedom. This provides the first explicit instance of the higher-form Dressing Field Method.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.15737",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "J. François"
    },
    {
      "name": "L. Ravera"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9d7bjjp9dxwkz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.15737",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9d7bjjp9dxwkz",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.15737",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-th"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Black Holes and Theoretical Physics"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221781038",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.15737",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-11",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9d7bjjp9dxwkz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:06Z",
      "native_id": "2610.15737",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.15737"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-th",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Higher Dressing and Shift-Invariance in 4D Topological BF Theory",
  "title_text": "Higher Dressing and Shift-Invariance in 4D Topological BF Theory",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:06Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9d7bjjp9dxwkz",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}