Gauge procedure with gauge fields of various ranks
  The standard procedure for making a global phase symmetry local involves the introduction of a rank 1, vector field in the definition of the covariant derivative. Here it is shown that it is possible to gauge a phase symmetry using fields of various ranks. In contrast to other formulations of higher rank gauge fields we begin with the coupling of the gauge field to some matter field, and then derive the gauge invariant, field strength tensor. Some of these gauge theories are similar to general relativity in that their covariant derivatives involve derivatives of the rank n gauge field rather than just the gauge field. For general relativity the covariant derivative involves the Christoffel symbols which are written in terms of derivatives of the metric tensor. Many (but not all) of the Lagrangians that we find for these higher rank gauge theories lead to nonrenormalizable quantum theories which is also similar to general relativity. 
Douglas Singleton, Akira Kato, A. Yoshida