Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2021/iii/paper-304/4/d/solution

Remove the common Grassmann parameter and write the BRST transformation as the odd derivation :
The last two equations immediately give . Applying to the ghost and using the graded product rule gives
The cancellation is the Jacobi identity for the structure constants together with anticommutation of the ghost fields. For the gauge field, the component calculation is
The graded product rule gives
so the two terms cancel. Thus vanishes on every elementary field.
For two independent Grassmann parameters, and satisfy . Since obeys the graded Leibniz rule, induction extends from the generators to every polynomial . Hence the BRST transformations are nilpotent.

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