Principal tensor strikes again: Separability of vector equations with torsion

Abstract

Many black hole spacetimes with a 3-form field exhibit a hidden symmetry encoded in a torsion generalization of the principal Killing–Yano tensor. This tensor determines basic properties of such black holes while also underlying the separability of the Hamilton–Jacobi, Klein–Gordon, and (torsion-modified) Dirac field equations in their background. As a specific example, we consider the Chong–Cvetič–Lü–Pope black hole of D=5 minimal gauged supergravity and show that the torsion-modified vector field equations can also be separated, with the principal tensor playing a key role in the separability ansatz. For comparison, separability of the Proca field in higher-dimensional Kerr–NUT–AdS spacetimes (including new explicit formulae in odd dimensions) is also presented.