  In the topologically massive BF model (TMBF) the photon becomes massive via
coupling to an antisymmetric tensor, without breaking the U(1) gauge symmetry .
There is no need of a Higgs field. The TMBF model is dual to a first-order (in
derivatives) formulation of the Maxwell-Proca theory where the antisymmetric
field plays the role of an auxiliary field. Since the Maxwell-Proca theory also
admits a first-order version which makes use of an auxiliary symmetric tensor,
we investigate here a possible generalization of the TMBF model where the
photon acquires mass via coupling to a symmetric tensor. We show that it is
indeed possible to build up dual models to the Maxwell-Proca theory where the
U(1) gauge symmetry is manifest without Higgs field, but after a local field
redefinition the vector field eats up the trace of the symmetric tensor and
becomes massive. So the explicit U(1) symmetry can be removed unlike the TMBF
model.
