In the thesis, we set out to study a certain class of algebraically special spacetimes in arbitrary dimension. These are the so-called spacetimes of Weyl and traceless Ricci type N. Our work can be divided into two parts. In the first part, we study general geometrical properties of spacetimes under consideration. In particular, we are interested in various properties of aligned null directions - certain significant null directions associated with algebraic structure of the Weyl and the Ricci tensor. Since the obtained results are of geometric nature, they are theory-independent and thus hold in Einstein's gravity as well as in its various generalizations. In the second part of our work, we apply these general results in the Einstein-Maxwell p-form theory, within which spacetimes of traceless Ricci type N emerge naturally as a part of a solution of the Einstein-Maxwell equations with a null Maxwell field. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

We study Cheeger-Simons differential characters in order to define higher form U(1) gauge fields and their Wilson lines. We then go on to define generalized global symmetries. This is a topological formulation of symmetries which has interesting consequences when the charged operators extend through space. Our main source of such charged operators are the generalized Wilson lines. A higher form Noether theorem and a Ward identity are given for transformations of Wilson lines. As examples of quantum field theories with generalized symmetries we cover Sigma models, Maxwell theory and BF-theory. These are examples of Z, U(1) and Zn symmetries respectively. Finally we discuss spontaneous symmetry breaking for higher dimensional symmetries and a Goldstone theorem is provided. These massless Goldstone bosons are shown to have internal structure corresponding to non-zero spin. The photon is identified as the spin one Goldstone boson in QED. Our review of generalized symmetries is more formal than the ones in other papers. This makes various points explicit and leads to general selection rules. Many results of previous papers are reproduced in detail.