The topologically massive gauge theory of Deser, Jackiw, and Templeton is understood from Souriau’s principle of general covariance. The non-gauge-invariant mass term corresponds to a nontrivial class in the first cohomology group of configuration space, generated by the Chern-Simons secondary characteristic class. Quantization requires this class to be integral.

• Received 20 August 1985

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.33.1822