A frame-like action for arbitrary mixed-symmetry bosonic massless fields in Minkowski space is constructed. The action is given in a simple form and consists of two terms for a field of any spin. The fields and gauge parameters are certain tensor-valued differential forms. The formulation is based on the unfolded form of equations for mixed-symmetry fields.
A frame-like action for massless mixed-symmetry fermionic fields in Minkowski space is constructed. The action is uniquely determined by gauge invariance.
The unfolded formulation for arbitrary massless mixed-symmetry bosonic and fermionic fields in Minkowski space is constructed. The unfolded form is proved to be uniquely determined by the requirement that all gauge symmetries are manifest. The unfolded equations have the form of a covariant constancy condition. The gauge fields and gauge parameters are differential forms with values in certain irreducible Lorentz tensors. The unfolded equations for bosons determine completely those for fermions. The proposed unfolded formulation also contains dual formulations for massless mixed-symmetry field…
We consider in detail the structure of quartic vertices for massless higher spin fields on Minkowski background, and study the consistency conditions imposed on cubic and quartic interactions by symmetries of the S--matrix. We discuss the possibility of generalizing the construction of quartic vertices to D-dimensional anti-de Sitter space.
The Casimir effect has been studied for various quantum fields in both flat and curved spacetimes. As a further step along this line, we provide an explicit derivation of Casimir effect for massless spin-3/2 field with periodic boundary condition imposed in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime. The corresponding results with Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions are also discussed.
We solve Klein-Gordon equation for massless scalars on d+1 dimensional Minkowski (Euclidean) space in terms of the Cauchy data on the hypersurface t=0. By inserting the solution into the action of massless scalars in Minkowski (Euclidean) space we obtain the action of dual theory on the boundary t=0 which is exactly the holographic dual of conformally coupled scalars on d+1 dimensional (Euclidean anti) de Sitter space obtained in (A)dS/CFT correspondence. The observed equivalence of dual theories is explained using the one-to-one map between conformally coupled scalar fields on Minkowski (Eucl…
From the modern viewpoint and by the geometric method, this paper provides a concise foundation for the quantum theory of massless spin-3/2 field in Minkowski spacetime, which includes both the one-particle's quantum mechanics and the many-particle's quantum field theory. The explicit result presented here is useful for the investigation of spin-3/2 field in various circumstances such as supergravity, twistor programme, Casimir effect, and quantum inequality.
In this paper we extend our recent results (hep-th/0304067) on the first order formulation for the massless mixed symmetry tensor fields to the case of massive fields both in Minkowski as well as in (Anti) de Sitter spaces (including all possible massless and partially massless limits). Main physical results are essentially the same as in hep-th/0211233.
We discuss the possibility of localizing Einstein gravity on a three-brane embedded in a five-dimensional Minkowski space by giving a space-dependent mass to the graviton. We show that, with an overall fine tuning of the mass profile, it is possible to localize a massless graviton with a finite mass gap from the massive Kaluza-Klein modes. The theory does not contain ghosts and no scalar massless mode is sourced by brane matter. A massless vector mode is strongly coupled to the flux of energy-momentum into the extra dimension, so that it is not sourced as long as only brane-localized matter is…
Using unfolded formulation of free equations for massless fields of all spins we obtain explicit form of higher-spin conformal conserved charges bilinear in 4d massless fields of arbitrary spins.
In this paper we give explicit gauge invariant Lagrangian formulation for massive theories based on mixed symmetry tensors Φ_{[μν],α}, T_{[μνα],β} and R_{[μν],[αβ]} both in Minkowski as well as in (Anti) de Sitter spaces. In particular, we study all possible massless and partially massless limits for such theories in (A)dS.
We study a novel class of higher derivative theories for interacting massless gravitons in Minkowski spacetime. These theories were first discussed by Wald decades ago, and are characterized by scattering amplitudes essentially different from general relativity and many of its modifications. We discuss various aspects of these higher derivative theories, including the Lagrangian construction, violation of asymptotic causality, scattering amplitudes, non-renormalization, and possible implications on emergent gravitons from condensed matter systems.
The last decade of research on $κ$-Minkowski noncommutative spacetime has been strongly characterized by a controversy concerning the speed of propagation of massless particles. Most arguments suggested that this speed should depend on the momentum of the particle strongly enough to be of interest for some ongoing experimental studies. But the only explicit derivations of worldlines in $κ$-Minkowski predicted no momentum dependence for the speed of massless particles. We return to this controversy equipped with the recent understanding (arXiv:1006.2126, arXiv:1007.0718, arXiv:1008.2962, arXiv:…
Consistent couplings between a massless tensor field with the mixed symmetry of the Riemann tensor and a massless vector field are analyzed in the framework of Lagrangian BRST cohomology. Under the assumptions on smoothness, locality, Lorentz covariance, and Poincare invariance of the deformations, combined with the requirement that the interacting Lagrangian is at most second-order derivative, it is proved that there are no consistent cross-interactions between a single massless tensor field with the mixed symmetry of the Riemann tensor and one massless vector field.
Quantum inequalities have been established for various quantum fields in both flat and curved spacetimes. In particular, for spin-3/2 fields, Yu and Wu have explicitly derived quantum inequalities for massive case. Employing the similar method developed by Fewster and colleagues, this paper provides an explicit formula of quantum inequalities for massless spin-3/2 field in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime.
Free AdS(5) mixed-symmetry massless bosonic and fermionic gauge fields of arbitrary spins are described by using su(2,2) spinor language. Manifestly covariant action functionals are constructed and field equations are derived.
A conformally invariant model of two interacting massless particles in Minkowski space was proposed by Casalbuoni and Gomis [1]. We generalize this model to the case of de Sitter space from the perspective of geodesic distance, in such a way that the resulting, generalized action reduces to the original action in a limit that de Sitter radius goes to infinity. We analyze the Hamiltonian formulation in accordance with Dirac's prescription for constrained Hamiltonian systems and carry out its subsequent canonical quantization in coordinate representation following DeWitt. As the result, we deriv…
In this paper we consider frame-like formulation for mixed symmetry spin-tensors corresponding to arbitrary Young tableau with two rows. First of all, we extend Skvortsov formulation for massless mixed symmetry bosonic fields in flat Minkowski space to the case of massless fermionic fields. Then, using such massless fields as building blocks, we construct gauge invariant formulation for massive spin-tensors with the same symmetry properties. We give general massive theories in (A)dS spaces with arbitrary cosmological constant and investigate all possible massless and partially massless limits.
The quantum energy-momentum tensor ${\hat T}^{μν}(x)$ is computed for strings in Minkowski space-time. We compute its expectation value for different physical string states both for open and closed bosonic strings. The states considered are described by normalizable wave-packets in the center of mass coordinates. We find in particular that ${\hat T}^{μν}(x)$ is {\bf finite} which could imply that the classical divergence that occurs in string theory as we approach the string position is removed at the quantum level as the string position is smeared out by quantum fluctuations. For massive stri…
The basic BRST cohomological properties of a free, massless tensor field with the mixed symmetry of the Riemann tensor are studied in detail. It is shown that any non-trivial co-cycle from the local BRST cohomology group can be taken to stop at antighost number three, its last component belonging to the cohomology of the exterior longitudinal derivative and containing non-trivial elements from the (invariant) characteristic cohomology.
We derive the Lagrangian for a new model of a massive rank-4 tensor field with generalized spin (2,1,1) in Minkowski spacetime of any dimension d>5, by using dimensional reduction applied to a reducible gauge model of a massless rank-4 tensor field with generalized spin (2,1,1) in Minkowski spacetime of dimension d+1.
In this paper we discuss in detail the frame-like formulation of free bosonic massless higher-spin fields of general symmetry type in AdS(d), announced recently in hep-th/0311164, hep-th/0501108. Properties of gauge invariant and AdS covariant action functionals and their flat limits are carefully analyzed.
A complete and explicit classification of generalized, or local, symmetries of massless free fields of spin $s \geq 1/2$ is carried out. Up to equivalence, these are found to consists of the conformal symmetries and their duals, new chiral symmetries of order $2s$, and their higher-order extensions obtained by Lie differentiation with respect to conformal Killing vectors. In particular, the results yield a complete classification of generalized symmetries of the Dirac-Weyl neutrino equation, Maxwell's equations, and the linearized gravity equations.
Motivated by the desire to understand the causal structure of physical signals produced in curved spacetimes -- particularly around black holes -- we show how, for certain classes of geometries, one might obtain its retarded or advanced minimally coupled massless scalar Green's function by using the corresponding Green's functions in the higher dimensional Minkowski spacetime where it is embedded. Analogous statements hold for certain classes of curved Riemannian spaces, with positive definite metrics, which may be embedded in higher dimensional Euclidean spaces. The general formula is applied…
We elaborate on the ambient space approach to boundary values of $AdS_{d+1}$ gauge fields and apply it to massless fields of mixed-symmetry type. In the most interesting case of odd-dimensional bulk the respective leading boundary values are conformal gauge fields subject to the invariant equations. Our approach gives a manifestly conformal and gauge covariant formulation for these fields. Although such formulation employs numerous auxiliary fields, it comes with a systematic procedure for their elimination that results in a more concise formulation involving only a reasonable set of auxiliari…
Under the hypotheses of analyticity, locality, Lorentz covariance, and Poincare invariance of the deformations, combined with the requirement that the interaction vertices contain at most two spatiotemporal derivatives of the fields, we investigate the consistent selfinteractions that can be added to a collection of massless tensor fields with the mixed symmetry (3,1) and respectively (2,2). The computations are done with the help of the deformation theory based on a cohomological approach, in the context of the antifield-BRST formalism. Our result is that no selfinteractions that deform the o…
The frame-like covariant Lagrangian formulation of bosonic and fermionic mixed-symmetry type higher spin massless fields propagating on the AdS(d) background is proposed. Higher spin fields are described in terms of gauge p-forms which carry tangent indices representing certain traceless tensor or gamma transversal spinor-tensor representations of the AdS(d) algebra o(d-1,2) (or o(d,1) for bosonic fields in dS(d)). Manifestly gauge invariant Abelian higher spin field strengths are introduced for the general case. We describe the general framework and demonstrate how it works for the mixed-symm…
The main BRST cohomological properties of a free, massless tensor field that transforms in an irreducible representation of GL(D,R), corresponding to a rectangular, two-column Young diagram with k>2 rows are studied in detail. In particular, it is shown that any non-trivial co-cycle from the local BRST cohomology group H(s|d) can be taken to stop either at antighost number (k+1) or k, its last component belonging to the cohomology of the exterior longitudinal derivative H(gamma) and containing non-trivial elements from the (invariant) characteristic cohomology H^{inv}(delta|d).
Under the hypotheses of smoothness in the coupling constant, locality, Lorentz covariance, and Poincare invariance of the deformations, combined with the preservation of the number of derivatives on each field, the consistent interactions between a single free massless tensor gauge field with the mixed symmetry of a two-column Young diagram of the type (3,1) and one Abelian vector field have been investigated. The computations are done with the help of the deformation theory based on a cohomological approach, in the context of the antifield-BRST formalism. The main result is that there exist n…
Interactions of massless fields of all spins in four dimensions with currents of any spin is shown to result from a solution of the linear problem that describes a gluing between rank-one (massless) system and rank-two (current) system in the unfolded dynamics approach. Since the rank-two system is dual to a free rank-one higher-dimensional system, that effectively describes conformal fields in six space-time dimensions, the constructed system can be interpreted as describing a mixture between linear conformal fields in four and six dimensions. Interpretation of the obtained results in spirit …
We consider in detail the analytic behaviour of the non-interacting massless scalar field two-point function in H.S. Snyder's discretized non-commuting spacetime. The propagator we find is purely real on the Euclidean side of the complex $p^2$ plane and goes like $1/p^2$ as $p^2\to 0$ from either the Euclidean or Minkowski side. The real part of the propagator goes smoothly to zero as $p^2$ increases to the discretization scale $1/a^2$ and remains zero for $p^2>1/a^2$. This behaviour is consistent with the termination of single-particle propagation on the ultraviolet side of the discretization…
Non-trivial, consistent interactions of a free, massless tensor field t_{μν|αβ} with the mixed symmetry of the Riemann tensor are studied in the following cases: self-couplings, cross-interactions with a Pauli-Fierz field and cross-couplings with purely matter theories. The main results, obtained from BRST cohomological techniques under the assumptions on smoothness, locality, Lorentz covariance and Poincaré invariance of the deformations, combined with the requirement that the interacting Lagrangian is at most second-order derivative, can be synthesized into: no consistent self-couplings exis…
We discuss the semiclassical scattering problem for massless matter coupled to Rarita-Schwinger field in four dimensional Minkowski space. We rewrite the soft gravitino theorem as a Ward identity for the S-matrix and discuss the relationship of corresponding symmetry charges to new asymptotic fermonic symmetries of massless Rarita-Schwinger field.
We elaborate on the Green's functions that appeared in [1,2] when generalizing, from massless to massive particles, various equivalences between soft theorems and Ward identities of large gauge symmetries. We analyze these Green's functions in considerable detail and show that they form a hierarchy of functions which describe `boundary to bulk' propagators for large $U(1)$ gauge parameters, supertranslations and sphere vector fields respectively. As a consistency check we verify that the Green's functions associated to the large diffeomorphisms map the Poincare group at null infinity to the Po…
In a recent paper arXiv:1107.1872 cubic gravitational interactions for a massless mixed symmetry field in AdS space have been constructed. In the current paper we extend these results to the case of massive field. We work in a Fradkin-Vasiliev approach and use frame-like gauge invariant description for massive field which works in (A)dS spaces with arbitrary values of cosmological constant including flat Minkowski space. In this, massless limit in AdS space coincides with the results of arXiv:1107.1872 while we show that it is impossible to switch on gravitational interaction for massless fiel…
Conserved currents of any spin $t>0$ built from symmetric massless gauge fields of any integer spin $s \geq t$ in {4d} Minkowski space are found. In particular, stress-energy tensor for a higher-spin field of any spin is constructed. Analogously to spin-two stress (pseudo)tensor, currents considered in this paper are not gauge invariant. However, they are shown to generate gauge invariant conserved charges. Besides expected parity even HS currents, we found unexpected parity odd currents that generate less symmetries than the even ones. It is argued that these odd currents unlikely admit a con…
We construct supersymmetric M3-brane solutions in D=11 supergravity. They can be viewed as deformations of backgrounds taking the form of a direct product of four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime and a non-compact Ricci-flat manifold of G_2 holonomy. Although the 4-form field strength is turned on it carries no charge, and the 3-branes are correspondingly massless. We also obtain 3-branes of a different type, arising as M5-branes wrapped over S^2.
We prove that the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity arising in the massless limit of massive gravity theories is peculiar to Minkowski space and it is not present in Anti De Sitter space, where the massless limit is smooth. More generally, the massless limit is smooth whenever the square of the graviton mass vanishes faster than the cosmological constant.
The generating function of correlators of dual operators on the boundary of (A)dS4 space corresponding to the conformally coupled $ϕ^4$-model is obtained up to first order in the coupling constant by using the conformal map between massless scalar fields in (Euclidean) Minkowski space and conformally coupled scalars on (Euclidean anti) de Sitter space. Some exact classical solutions of the nonlinear wave equation of massless (conformally coupled) $ϕ^3$, $ϕ^4$ and $ϕ^6$-models in D=6,4,3 Euclidean/Minkowski (AdS/dS) spaces are obtained.
In this paper, as a first step toward frame-like gauge invariant formulation for massive mixed symmetry bosonic fields, we consider mixed tensors, corresponding to Young tableau with two rows with k >= 2 boxes in the first row and only one box in the second one. We construct complete Lagrangian and gauge transformations describing massive particles in (anti) de Sitter space-time with arbitrary dimension d >= 4 and investigate all possible massless and partially massless limits.
We have computed the black body radiation spectra in $κ-$Minkowski space-time, using the quantum mechanical picture of massless scalar particles as well as effective quantum field theory picture. The black body radiation depends on how the field theory (and thus how the $κ-$Poincaré algebra) handles the ordering effect of the noncommutative space-time. In addition, there exists a natural momentum cut-off of the order $κ$, beyond which a new real mode takes its shape from a complex mode and the old real mode flows out to be a new complex mode. However, the new high momentum real mode should not…
Using a quantum field theoretic setting, we present evidence for dimensional reduction of any sub-volume of Minkowksi space. First, we show that correlation functions of a class of operators restricted to a sub-volume of D-dimensional Minkowski space scale as its surface area. A simple example of such area scaling is provided by the energy fluctuations of a free massless quantum field in its vacuum state. This is reminiscent of area scaling of entanglement entropy but applies to quantum expectation values in a pure state, rather than to statistical averages over a mixed state. We then show, in…
We study massive and massless conical defects in Minkowski and de Sitter spaces in various spacetime dimensions. The energy-momentum of a defect, considered as an (extended) relativistic object, is completely characterized by the holonomy of the connection associated with its spacetime metric. The possible holonomies are given by Lorentz group elements, which are rotations and null rotations for massive and massless defects respectively. In particular, if we fix the direction of propagation of a massless defect in n+1-dimensional Minkowski space, then its space of holonomies is a maximal abeli…
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…
Positive energy unitary irreducible representations of $SU(2,2)$ can be constructed with the aid of bosonic oscillators in (anti)fundamental representation of $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R$ that are closely related to Penrose twistors. Starting with the correspondence between the doubleton representations, homogeneous functions on projective twistor space and on-shell $SL(2,\mathbb C)$ generalized Weyl curvature spinors and their low-spin counterparts, we study in the similar way the correspondence between the massless representations, homogeneous functions on ambitwistor space and, via the Penrose t…
We show how cosmological correlation functions of massless fields can be rewritten in terms of Minkowski correlation functions, by extracting symmetry-breaking operators from the cosmological correlators. This technique simplifies some cosmological calculations. Also, known properties of Minkowski correlation functions can be translated to non-trivial properties of cosmological correlations. To illustrate this idea, inflation to Minkowski and matter bounce to Minkowski relations are presented for the interactions of general single field inflation. And a Minkowski recursion relation is translat…
The dynamical commutators of the light-front Poincaré algebra yield first order differential equations in the $p^+$ momenta for the interaction vertex operators. The homogeneous solution to the equation for the quartic vertex is studied. Consequences as regards the constructibility assumption of quartic higher spin amplitudes from cubic amplitudes are discussed. The existence of quartic contact interactions unrelated to cubic interactions by Poincaré symmetry indicates that the higher spin S-matrix is not constructible. Thus quartic amplitude based no-go results derived by BCFW recursion for M…
Massless fields of generic Young symmetry type in $AdS_d$ space are analyzed. It is demonstrated that in contrast to massless fields in Minkowski space whose physical degrees of freedom transform in irreps of $o(d-2)$ algebra, $AdS$ massless mixed symmetry fields reduce to a number of irreps of $o(d-2)$ algebra. From the field theory perspective this means that not every massless field in flat space admits a deformation to $AdS_d$ with the same number of degrees of freedom, because it is impossible to keep all of the flat space gauge symmetries unbroken in the AdS space. An equivalent statemen…
Particular class of AdS(d) mixed-symmetry bosonic massless fields corresponding to arbitrary two-column Young tableaux is considered. Unique gauge invariant free actions are found and equations of motion are analyzed.
We discuss the notion of tensionless limit in quantum bosonic string theory, especially in flat Minkowski space, noncompact group manifolds (e.g., SL(2,R)) and coset manifolds (e.g., AdS). We show that in curved space typically there exists a critical value of the tension which is related to the critical value of the level of the corresponding affine algebra. We argue that at the critical level the sring theory becomes tensionless and that there exists a huge new symmetry of the theory. We dicuss the appearence of the higher spin massless states at the critical level.
Extending the seminal work of Bilal and Gervais, we construct a tachyon-free, modular invariant partition function for critical superstrings on four-dimensional Minkowski x two-dimensional black hole. This model may be thought of as an SL(2,R)/U(1) version of Gepner models and corresponds to a conifold point on the moduli space of Calabi-Yau compactifications. We directly deal with N=2, c=9 unitary superconformal characters. Modular invariance is achieved by requiring the string to have a momentum along an extra noncompact direction, in agreement with the picture of singular CFTs advocated by …
Massless scattering amplitudes in four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime can be Mellin transformed to correlation functions on the celestial sphere at null infinity called celestial amplitudes. We study various properties of massless four-point scalar and gluon celestial amplitudes such as conformal partial wave decomposition, crossing relations and optical theorem. As a byproduct, we derive the analog of the single and double soft limits for all gluon celestial amplitudes.
Electromagnetic fields of a massless charged particle are described by a gauge potential that is almost everywhere pure gauge. Solution of quantum mechanical wave equations in the presence of such fields is therefore immediate and leads to a new derivation of the quantum electrodynamical eikonal approximation. The elctromagnetic action in the eikonal limit is localised on a contour in a two-dimensional Minkowski subspace of four-dimensional space-time. The exact S-matrix of this reduced theory coincides with the eikonal approximation, and represents the generalisatin to electrodynamics of the …
Loop corrections to finite-time correlation functions in quantum field theories away from equilibrium can be calculated using the in-in path integral approach. In this paper, we calculate the unequal-time two-point correlator for different massless self-interacting scalar quantum field theories on a Minkowski background, starting the field evolution at an arbitrary initial time. We find the counterterms that need to be added to UV-renormalize the result, including usual in-out counterterms in the dynamics and additional initial state counterterms that are required to cancel all UV divergences.…
For certain classes of space(time)s embeddable in a higher dimensional flat space(time), it appears possible to compute the minimally coupled massless scalar Green's function in the former by convolving its cousin in the latter with an appropriate scalar charge density. The physical interpretation is that beings residing in the higher dimensional flat space(time) may set up sources to fool the observer confined on the lower dimensional curved submanifold that she is detecting the field generated by a space(time) point source in her own world. In this paper we extend the general formula to incl…