Stability and consistent interactions in Podolsky's generalized electrodynamics

Abstract: We confirm the stability of Podolsky's generalized electrodynamics by constructing a series of two-parametric bounded conserved quantities which includes the canonical energy-momentum tensors. In addition, we evaluate the transition-amplitude of this higher derivative system in BV antifield formalism and obtain the desirable generalized radiation gauge condition by choosing appropriate gauge-fixing fermion. Within the framework of Lagrangian BRST cohomology, we present the constructions of consistent interactions in Podolsky's model and when concentrating on the antighost number zero part of the master action after deformation process, we get the non-Abelian extensions of the Podolsky's theory. Furthermore, we calculate the number of physical degrees of freedom in the resulting higher derivative system utilizing Dirac-Bergmann algorithm method and show that it is unchanged if the consistent interactions are included into the free theory.