Nilpotent symmetries of a 4D model of Hodge theory: Augmented (anti-)chiral superfield formalism

We derive the continuous nilpotent symmetries of the four (3+1)-dimensional (4D) model of the Hodge theory (i.e. 4D Abelian 2-form gauge theory) by exploiting the beauty and strength of the symmetry invariant restrictions on the (anti-)chiral superfields. The above off-shell nilpotent symmetries are the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST), anti-BRST and (anti-)co-BRST transformations which turn up beautifully due to the (anti-)BRST and (anti-)co-BRST invariant restrictions on the (anti-)chiral superfields that are defined on the (4, 1)-dimensional (anti-)chiral super-submanifolds of the general (4, 2)-dimensional supermanifold on which our ordinary 4D theory is generalized. The latter supermanifold is characterized by the superspace coordinates ZM=(xμ,θ,θ̄) where xμ(μ=0,1,2,3) are the bosonic coordinates and a pair of Grassmannian variables θ and θ̄ are fermionic in nature as they obey the standard relationships: θ2=θ̄2=0,θθ̄+θ̄θ=0). The derivation of the proper (anti-)co-BRST symmetries and proof of the absolute anticommutativity property of the conserved (anti-)BRST and (anti-) co-BRST charges are novel results of our present investigation (where only the (anti-)chiral superfields and their super-expansions have been taken into account).