Free geometric equations for higher spins
Abstract
We show how allowing non-local terms in the field equations of symmetric tensors uncovers a neat geometry that naturally generalizes the Maxwell and Einstein cases. The end results can be related to multiple traces of the generalized Riemann curvatures Rα1⋯αs;β1⋯βs introduced by de Wit and Freedman, divided by suitable powers of the D'Alembertian operator □. The conventional local equations can be recovered by a partial gauge fixing involving the trace of the gauge parameters Λα1⋯αs-1, absent in the Fronsdal formulation. The same geometry underlies the fermionic equations, that, for all spins s+1/2, can be linked via the operator {∂̷}/{□} to those of the spin-s bosons.
- Publication:
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Physics Letters B
- Pub Date:
- September 2002
- DOI:
- 10.1016/S0370-2693(02)02449-8
- arXiv:
- arXiv:hep-th/0207002
- Bibcode:
- 2002PhLB..543..303F
- Keywords:
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- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- References and comment added. Final version to appear in Physics Letters B