Current Reconstruction and Higher Interactions in Gauge Theory

Abstract: We revisit Deser's current reconstruction in first-order Yang--Mills theory with an independent two-form. We fix the quadratic auxiliary sector and the first gauge correction, and ask whether a prescribed curvature interaction can be added without higher-order action terms. For a compact semisimple gauge algebra, requiring the mixed Noether identity to close without a $gh$ action term fixes the algebraic auxiliary representative to the tangent representative, up to linear curvature and dual-curvature terms on each simple ideal. For the analytic radial class $U=Φ(f\cdot f)$, with first nonlinear term $c_p(f\cdot f)<sup>p$, no allowed representative avoids a third-order action correction when all second-order action coefficients vanish. A free-field scaling argument inside a root $\mathfrak{su}(2)$ subalgebra establishes this result for every compact semisimple gauge algebra. Ordinary covariantization and an auxiliary-field shift give an explicit completion. For $p=2$, its seven-gluon contact term cancels a nonzero tree-level Ward contraction at real nonsingular kinematics. We also study an affine star-gauge sector motivated by Seiberg--Witten maps, where strict current feedback and second-order action truncation select different representatives. Together these results show how the prescribed auxiliary data determine which interactions are required by current reconstruction.