We determine the current exchange amplitudes for free totally symmetric tensor fields $\vf_{μ_1 ... μ_s}$ of mass $M$ in a $d$-dimensional $dS$ space, extending the results previously obtained for $s=2$ by other authors. Our construction is based on an unconstrained formulation where both the higher-spin gauge fields and the corresponding gauge parameters $Λ_{μ_1 >... μ_{s-1}}$ are not subject to Fronsdal's trace constraints, but compensator fields $α_{μ_1 ... μ_{s-3}}$ are introduced for $s > 2$. The free massive $dS$ equations can be fully determined by a radial dimensional reduction from a $(d+1)$-dimensional Minkowski space time, and lead for all spins to relatively handy closed-form expressions for the exchange amplitudes, where the external currents are conserved, both in $d$ and in $(d+1)$ dimensions, but are otherwise arbitrary. As for $s=2$, these amplitudes are rational functions of $(ML)^2$, where $L$ is the $dS$ radius. In general they are related to the hypergeometric functions $_3F_2(a,b,c;d,e;z)$, and their poles identify a subset of the "partially-massless" discrete states, selected by the condition that the gauge transformations of the corresponding fields contain some non-derivative terms. Corresponding results for $AdS$ spaces can be obtained from these by a formal analytic continuation, while the massless limit is smooth, with no van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity.
We show that there exist conformally invariant theories for all spins in d=4 de Sitter space, namely the partially massless models with higher derivative gauge invariance under a scalar gauge parameter. This extends the catalog from the two known gauge models -- Maxwell and partially massless spin 2 -- to all spins.
We provide a unified treatment of electric-magnetic duality, at the action level and with manifest Lorentz invariance, for massive, massless as well as partially-massless gravitons propagating in maximally symmetric spacetimes of any dimension n>3. For massive and massless fields, we complete previous analyses that use parent-action techniques by giving dual descriptions that enable direct counting of physical degrees of freedom in the flat and massless limit. The same treatment is extended to the partially-massless case, where the duality has been previously discussed in covariant form only a…
In the recent paper [1] the classification of non-unitary representations of the three dimensional superconformal group has been constructed. From AdS/CFT they must correspond to N=1 supermultiplets containing partially massless fields in $AdS_4$. Moreover, the simplest example of such supermultiplets which contains a partially massless spin-2 was explicitly constructed. In this paper we extend this result and develop explicit Lagrangian construction of general N=1 supermultiplets containing partially massless fields with arbitrary superspin. We use the frame-like gauge invariant description o…
The AdS/CFT correspondence is explored for ``partially massless'' fields in AdS space (which have fewer helicity states than a massive field but more than a conventional massless field). Such fields correspond in the boundary conformal field theory to fields obeying a certain conformally-invariant differential equation that has been described by Eastwood et al. The first descendant of such a field is a conformal field of negative norm. Hence, partially massless fields may make more physical sense in de Sitter as opposed to Anti de Sitter space.
We find and classify the simplest ${\cal N}=2$ SUSY multiplets on AdS$_4$ which contain partially massless fields. We do this by studying representations of the ${\cal N}=2$, $d=3$ superconformal algebra of the boundary, including new shortening conditions that arise in the non-unitary regime. Unlike the ${\cal N}=1$ case, the simplest ${\cal N}=2$ multiplet containing a partially massless spin-2 is short, containing several exotic fields. More generally, we argue that ${\cal N}=2$ supersymmetry allows for short multiplets that contain partially massless spin-$s$ particles of depth $t=s-2$.
We construct a concise gauge invariant formulation for massless, partially massless, and massive bosonic AdS fields of arbitrary symmetry type at the level of equations of motion. Our formulation admits two equivalent descriptions: in terms of the ambient space and in terms of an appropriate vector bundle, as an explicitly local first-order BRST formalism. The second version is a parent-like formulation that can be used to generate various other formulations via equivalent reductions. In particular, we demonstrate a relation to the unfolded description of massless and partially massless fields…
The manifestly gauge invariant formulation for free symmetric partially massless fields in $(A)dS_d$ is given in terms of gauge connections and linearized curvatures that take values in the irreducible representations of $(o(d-1,2)) o(d,1)$ described by two-row Young tableaux, in which the lengths of the first and second row are, respectively, associated with spin and depth of partial masslessness.
We apply Fradkin-Vasiliev formalism to construction of non-trivial cubic interaction vertices for massive spin-2 particles. In this first paper as a relatively simple but instructive example we consider self-interaction and gravitational interaction of partially massless spin-2.
We study a class of non-unitary so(2,d) representations (for even values of d), describing mixed-symmetry partially massless fields which constitute natural candidates for defining higher-spin singletons of higher order. It is shown that this class of so(2,d) modules obeys of natural generalisation of a couple of defining properties of unitary higher-spin singletons. In particular, we find out that upon restriction to the subalgebra so(2,d-1), these representations branch onto a sum of modules describing partially massless fields of various depths. Finally, their tensor product is worked out i…
We revisit the problem of building consistent interactions for a multiplet of partially massless spin-2 fields in (anti-)de Sitter space. After rederiving and strengthening the existing no-go result on the impossibility of Yang-Mills type non-abelian deformations of the partially massless gauge algebra, we prove the uniqueness of the cubic interaction vertex and field-dependent gauge transformation that generalize the structures known from single-field analyses and in four spacetime dimensions, where our results also hold. Unlike in the case of one partially massless field, however, we show th…
We study the possibility for a unitary theory of partially-massless (PM) spin-two field interacting with Gravity in arbitrary dimensions. We show that the gauge and parity invariant interaction of PM spin two particles requires the inclusion of specific massive spin-two fields and leads to a reconstruction of Conformal Gravity, or multiple copies of the latter in even dimensions. By relaxing the parity invariance, we find a possibility of a unitary theory in four dimensions, but this theory cannot be constructed in the standard formulation, due to the absence of the parity-odd cubic vertex the…
Using ambient space we develop a fully gauge and o(d,2) covariant approach to boundary values of AdS(d+1) gauge fields. It is applied to the study of (partially) massless fields in the bulk and (higher-order) conformal scalars, i.e. singletons, as well as (higher-depth) conformal gauge fields on the boundary. In particular, we identify the corresponding Fradkin-Tseytlin equations as obstructions to the extension of the off-shell boundary value to the bulk, generalizing the usual considerations for the holographic anomalies to the partially massless fields. We also relate the background fields …
We extend the notion of the Higuchi bound and partial masslessness to ghost-free nonlinear bimetric theories. This can be achieved in a simple way by first considering linear massive spin-2 perturbations around maximally symmetric background solutions, for which the linear gauge symmetry at the Higuchi bound is easily identified. Then, requiring consistency between an appropriate subset of these transformations and the dynamical nature of the backgrounds, fixes all but one parameter in the bimetric interaction potential. This specifies the theory up to the value of the Fierz-Pauli mass and lea…
In the last few years we have seen an increase interest on gravitational waves due to recent and striking experimental results confirming Einstein's general relativity once more. From the field theory point of view, gravity describes the propagation of self-interacting massless spin-2 particles. They can be identified with metric perturbations about a given background metric. Since the metric is a symmetric tensor, the massless spin-2 particles present in the Einstein-Hilbert (massless Fierz-Pauli) theory are naturally described by a symmetric rank-2 tensor. However, this is not the only possi…
We study a generalization of the D-dimensional Vasiliev theory to include a tower of partially massless fields. This theory is obtained by replacing the usual higher-spin algebra of Killing tensors on (A)dS with a generalization that includes "third-order" Killing tensors. Gauging this algebra with the Vasiliev formalism leads to a fully non-linear theory which is expected to be UV complete, includes gravity, and can live on dS as well as AdS. The linearized spectrum includes three massive particles and an infinite tower of partially massless particles, in addition to the usual spectrum of par…
We compute the one-loop free energies of the type-A$_\ell$ and type-B$_\ell$ higher-spin gravities in $(d+1)$-dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS$_{d+1}$) spacetime. For large $d$ and $\ell$, these theories have a complicated field content, and hence it is difficult to compute their zeta functions using the usual methods. Applying the character integral representation of zeta function developed in the companion paper arXiv:1805.05646 to these theories, we show how the computation of their zeta function can be shortened considerably. We find that the results previously obtained for the massless the…
There are various no-go results forbidding self-interactions for a single partially massless spin-2 field. Given the photon-like structure of the linear partially massless field, it is natural to ask whether a multiplet of such fields can interact under an internal Yang-Mills like extension of the partially massless symmetry. We give two arguments that such a partially massless Yang-Mills theory does not exist. The first is that there is no Yang-Mills like non-abelian deformation of the partially massless symmetry, and the second is that cubic vertices with the appropriate structure constants …
We present manifestly duality invariant, non-linear, equations of motion for maximal depth, partially massless higher spins. These are based on a first order, Maxwell-like formulation of the known partially massless systems. Our models mimic Dirac-Born-Infeld theory but it is unclear whether they are Lagrangian.
Cubic interactions of massive and partially-massless totally-symmetric higher-spin fields in any constant-curvature background of dimension greater than three are investigated. Making use of the ambient-space formalism, the consistency condition for the traceless and transverse parts of the parity-invariant interactions is recast into a system of partial differential equations. The latter can be explicitly solved for given s_1-s_2-s_3 couplings and the 2-2-2 and 3-3-2 examples are provided in detail for general choices of the masses. On the other hand, the general solutions for the interaction…
In d=4 de Sitter space, novel conformally invariant photon-like theories consistently couple to charged matter. We show that these higher spin, maximal depth, partially massless systems enjoy a Maxwellian, "electric-magnetic" duality.
We find and classify the ${\cal N}=1$ SUSY multiplets on AdS$_4$ which contain partially massless fields. We do this by studying the non-unitary representations of the $d=3$ superconformal algebra of the boundary. The simplest super-multiplet which contains a partially massless spin-2 particle also contains a massless photon, a massless spin-$3/2$ particle and a massive spin-$3/2$ particle. The gauge parameters form a Wess-Zumino super-multiplet which contains the gauge parameters of the photon, the partially massless graviton, and the massless spin-$3/2$ particle. We find the AdS$_4$ action a…
We investigate the possibility of extending the "partially massless" symmetry of a spin-2 field in de Sitter to nonlinear order. To do so, we impose a closure condition on the symmetry transformations. This requirement imposes strong constraints on the form of the nonlinear symmetry while making only minimal assumptions about the form of the nonlinear partially massless action. We find a unique nonlinear extension of the free partially massless symmetry. However, we show that no consistent Lagrangian that contains at most two derivatives of the fields can realize this symmetry.
We study the problem of interacting theories with (partially)-massless and conformal higher spin fields without matter in three dimensions. A new class of theories that have partially-massless fields is found, which significantly extends the well-known class of purely massless theories. More generally, it is proved that the complete theory has to have a form of the flatness condition for a connection of a Lie algebra, which, provided there is a non-degenerate invariant bilinear form, can be derived from the Chern-Simons action. We also point out the existence of higher spin theories without th…
We continue our study of a generalization of the D-dimensional linearized Vasiliev higher-spin equations to include a tower of partially massless (PM) fields. We compute one-loop effective actions by evaluating zeta functions for both the "minimal" and "non-minimal" parity-even versions of the theory. Specifically, we compute the log-divergent part of the effective action in odd-dimensional Euclidean AdS spaces for D=7 through 19 (dual to the a-type conformal anomaly of the dual boundary theory), and the finite part of the effective action in even-dimensional Euclidean AdS spaces for D=4 throu…
Partially massless theory in three dimensions is revisited and its relationship with the self-dual massive gravity is considered. The only mode of the partially massless theory is shown explicitly through an action for a scalar field on (A)dS background. This fact can be generalized to higher dimensions. This degree of freedom is altered when a triadic Chern-Simons is introduced, giving rise to the self-dual massive gravity on (A)dS background. We present another physical system with partially massless symmetry and its connection with topologically massive gravity is discussed.
In cosmological backgrounds, there can be 'partially massless' higher spin fields which have fewer degrees of freedom than their massive partners. The equations for the partially massless spin-2 fields are usually taken to be the linearized Einstein equations augmented with a 'tuned' Pauli-Fierz mass. Here, we add more powers of curvatures and show that for the string-generated Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet model, partially massless spin-2 fields have real mass in AdS, in contrast to the Einstein level result. We discuss the implication of this for the AdS/CFT applications and briefly study the C^4-co…
The representation theory of de Sitter space allows for a category of partially massless particles which have no flat space analog, but could have existed during inflation. We study the couplings of these exotic particles to inflationary perturbations and determine the resulting signatures in cosmological correlators. When inflationary perturbations interact through the exchange of these fields, their correlation functions inherit scalings that cannot be mimicked by extra massive fields. We discuss in detail the squeezed limit of the tensor-scalar-scalar bispectrum, and show that certain parti…
In four dimensions, partially massless fields of all spins and depths possess a duality invariance akin to electric-magnetic duality. We construct metric-like gauge invariant curvature tensors for partially massless fields of all integer spins and depths, and show how the partially massless equations of motion can be recovered from first order field equations and Bianchi identities for these curvatures. This formulation displays duality in its manifestly local and covariant form, in which it acts to interchange the field equations and Bianchi identities.
We provide a systematic and comprehensive derivation of the linearized dynamics of massive and partially massless spin-2 particles in a Schwarzschild (anti) de Sitter black hole background, in four and higher spacetime dimensions. In particular, we show how to obtain the quadratic actions for the propagating modes and recast the resulting equations of motion in a Schrödinger-like form. In the case of partially massless fields in Schwarzschild de Sitter spacetime, we study the isospectrality between modes of different parity. In particular, we prove isospectrality analytically for modes with mu…
We analyze the first-order formulation of the ghost-free bigravity model in three-dimensions known as zwei-dreibein gravity. For a special choice of parameters, it was argued to have an additional gauge symmetry and give rise to a partially massless theory. We provide a thorough canonical analysis and identify that whether the theory becomes partially massless depends on the form of the stability condition of the secondary constraint responsible for the absence of the ghost. Generically, it is found to be an equation for a Lagrange multiplier implying that partially massless zwei-dreibein grav…
We show that a partially massless graviton can propagate on a large set of spacetimes which are not Einstein spacetimes. Starting from a recently constructed theory for a massive graviton that propagates the correct number of degrees of freedom on an arbitrary spacetime, we first give the full explicit form of the scalar constraint responsible for the absence of a sixth degree of freedom. We then spell out generic conditions for the constraint to be identically satisfied, so that there is a scalar gauge symmetry which makes the graviton partially massless. These simplify if one assumes that sp…
Starting from the dual Lagrangians recently obtained for (partially) massless spin-2 fields in the Stueckelberg formulation, we write the equations of motion for (partially) massless gravitons in (A)dS in the form of twisted-duality relations. In both cases, the latter admit a smooth flat limit. In the massless case, this limit reproduces the gravitational twisted-duality relations previously known for Minkowski spacetime. In the partially-massless case, our twisted-duality relations preserve the number of degrees of freedom in the flat limit, in the sense that they split into a decoupled pair…
We describe the dimensional reduction of massive and partially massless spin-2 fields on general Einstein direct product manifolds. As with massless fields, the higher-dimensional gauge symmetry of the partially massless field displays itself upon dimensional reduction as a tower of Stückelberg symmetries for the massive modes of the tower. Unlike the massless case, the zero mode of the gauge symmetry does not display itself as a lower-dimensional non-Stuckelberg gauge symmetry enforcing partial masslessness on the zero mode. Partial masslessness is destroyed by the dimensional reduction and t…
On BRST Lagrangian description of partially massless bosonic fields
Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research（布洛赫伯理论物理实验室，核联合研究所）；Department of Theoretical Physics, Tomsk State Pedagogical University（托姆斯克国立师范学院理论物理系）；Tomsk Polytechnic University（托姆斯克理工大学）
Massive higher spin fields on de Sitter space exhibit enhanced gauge symmetries at special values of the mass. These fields are known as "partially massless." We study the structure of the charges and Gauss laws which characterize sources for the partially massless spin-2. Despite having a simple scalar gauge symmetry, there is a rich structure of gauge charges. The charges come in electric and magnetic varieties, each taking values in the fundamental representation of the de Sitter group. We find two invariant electric-like charges and two invariant magnetic-like charges and we find the point…
We study the constraint structure of Fierz -Pauli action in both flat and curved space in the framework of Hamiltonian formalism. We observe an abrupt change in the constraint algebra and the characteristics of the constraints when the mass term is turned off. As is well-known, for de Sitter background with a special tuning of the mass, we will have a gauge symmetry and one degree of freedom less. We will show how this abrupt change in the behavior of the system is reflected on the properties of the constraint algebra. We also obtain the generating functional of gauge transformations both for …
We show that consistent nonlinear Partially Massless models cannot be obtained starting from "f-g" massive gravity, with "f" the embedding de Sitter space. The obstruction, which is also the source of f-g acausality, is the very same fifth constraint that removes the notorious sixth ghost excitation. Here, however, it blocks extension of the mass to cosmological background tuned gauge invariance that took away the helicity zero mode at linear level. Separately, our methods allow us to almost complete the class of acausal f-g models.
We study partially massless gravity theory(PM gravity theory) and suggest an alternative way to add higher order interaction vertices to the theory. Rather than introducing self interaction vertices of the gravitational fields to the partially massless gravity action, we consider interactions with matter fields, since it is well known that addition of the self interaction terms necessarily breaks the $U(1)$ gauge symmetry that PM gravity theory enjoys. For the coupling with matter fields, we consider two different types of interaction vertices. The first one is given by an interaction Lagrangi…
We study the manifestly covariant and local 1-loop path integrals on $S^{d+1}$ for general massive, shift-symmetric and (partially) massless totally symmetric tensor fields of arbitrary spin $s\geq 0$ in any dimensions $d\geq 2$. After reviewing the cases of massless fields with spin $s=1,2$, we provide a detailed derivation for path integrals of massless fields of arbitrary integer spins $s\geq 1$. Following the standard procedure of Wick-rotating the negative conformal modes, we find a higher spin analog of Polchinski's phase for any integer spin $s\geq 2$. The derivations for low-spin ($s=0…
In this paper we investigate a particular ghost-free bimetric theory that exhibits the partially massless (PM) symmetry at quadratic order. At this order the global SO(1,4) symmetry of the theory is enhanced to SO(1,5). We show that this global symmetry becomes inconsistent at cubic order, in agreement with a previous calculation. Furthermore, we find that the PM symmetry of this theory cannot be extended beyond cubic order in the PM field. More importantly, it is shown that the PM symmetry cannot be extended to quartic order in any theory with one massless and one massive spin-2 fields.
We show explicitly that all partially and strictly massless fields with spins s<=3 in (A)dS have null propagation. Assuming that this property holds also for s>3, we derive the mass-cosmological constant tunings required to yield all higher spin partially massless theories. As s increases, the unitarily allowed region for massive spins is squeezed around Λ=0, so that an infinite tower of massive particles forces vanishing Λ. We also speculate on the relevance of this result to string theory and supergravity in (A)dS backgrounds.
We study the consistency of the cubic couplings of a (partially-)massless spinning field to two scalars in $\left(d+1\right)$-dimensional de Sitter space. Gauge invariance of observables with external (partially)-massless spinning fields translates into Ward-Takahashi identities on the boundary. Using the Mellin-Barnes representation for boundary correlators in momentum space, we give a systematic study of Ward-Takahashi identities for tree-level 3- and 4-point processes involving a single external (partially-)massless field of arbitrary integer spin-$J$. 3-point Ward-Takahashi identities cons…
We show that higher spin systems specific to cosmological spaces are subject to the same problems as models with Poincar'e limits. In particular, we analyse partially massless (PM) spin 2 and find that both its gravitational coupling and nonlinear extensions suffer from the usual [background- and self-coupling] difficulties: Consistent free field propagation does not extend beyond background Einstein geometries. Then, using conformal Weyl gravity (CG), which consists of relative ghost PM and graviton excitations, we find that avoiding graviton-ghosts restricts CG-generated PM self-couplings to…
The global symmetry algebras of partially-massless (PM) higher-spin (HS) fields in (A)dS$_{d+1}$ are studied. The algebras involving PM generators up to depth $2\,(\ell-1)$ are defined as the maximal symmetries of free conformal scalar field with $2\,\ell$ order wave equation in $d$ dimensions. We review the construction of these algebras by quotienting certain ideals in the universal enveloping algebra of $(A)dS_{d+1}$ isometries. We discuss another description in terms of Howe duality and derive the formula for computing trace in these algebras. This enables us to explicitly calculate the bi…
