In this paper we construct an unfolded formulation for the massive higher spin N=1 supermultiplets in four dimensional AdS space. We use the same frame-like gauge invariant multispinor formalism that was used previously for their Lagrangian formulation. We also consider an infinite spin limit of such supermultiplets.
Unfolded equations of motion for N = 1, D = 4 scalar supermultiplet are presented. We show how the superspace formulation emerges from the unfolded formulation. To analyze supersymmetric unfolded equations we extend the σ_-cohomology technics to the case with several operators σ_. The role of higher σ_-cohomology in the derivation of constraints is emphasized and illustrated by the example of scalar supermultiplet.
In this paper we give an explicit construction of unfolded equations for massive higher spin supermultiplets of the minimal (1,0) supersymmetry in AdS_3 space. For that purpose we use an unfolded formulation for massive bosonic and fermionic higher spins and find supertransformations leaving appropriate set of unfolded equations invariant. We provide two general supermultiplets (s, s+1/2) and (s, s-1/2) with arbitrary integer s, as well as a number of lower spin examples.
We show how manifestly supersymmetric action for Wess-Zumino model can be constructed within the unfolded dynamics approach. The off-shell unfolded system for N = 1, D = 4 scalar supermultiplet is found. The action is presented in the form of integral of a closed 4-form over any (4, 0) surface in superspace as well as a superspace integral of an integral form or a chiral integral form. The proposed method is argued to provide a most general tool for the analysis of manifestly supersymmetric functionals.
We construct and analyze unfolded off-shell systems for chiral and vector supermultiplets using multispinor formalism and external currents. We find that auxiliary variables of multispinor formalism allow for the interesting reorganization of the unfolded off-shell modules: one can unify dynamical and auxiliary scalars in the Wess-Zumino model, as well as an auxiliary pseudoscalar and a zero-helicity subsector in the vector supermultiplet, so that the resulting unfolded equations get simplified, while various constraints like chirality, electric current conservation and P-oddness of the pseudo…
In this paper we give explicit construction of massive N=1 supermultiplets in flat d=4 Minkowski space-time. We work in a component on-shell formalism based on gauge invariant description of massive integer and half-integer spin particles where massive supermultiplets are constructed out of appropriate set of massless ones.
Massive arbitrary spin supermultiplets and massless (scalar and spin one-half) supermultiplets of the N=2 Poincare superalgebra in three-dimensional flat space are considered. Both the integer spin and half-integer spin supermultiplets are studied. For such massive and massless supermultiplets, a formulation in terms of light-cone gauge unconstrained superfields defined in a momentum superspace is developed. For the supermultiplets under consideration a superspace first derivative representation for all cubic interaction vertices is obtained. A superspace representation for dynamical generator…
In this paper we construct massive supermultiplets out of appropriate set of massless ones in the same way as massive spin s particle could be constructed out of massless spin s,s-1,... ones leading to gauge invariant description of massive particle. Mainly we consider massive spin 3/2 supermultiplets in a flat d=4 Minkowski space both without central charge for N=1,2,3 as well as with central charge for N=2,4. Besides, we give two examples of massive N=1 supermultiplets with spin 3/2 and 2 in AdS_4 space.
We construct the Lagrangian formulation of massive higher spin on-shell (1,0) supermultiplets in three dimensional anti-de Sitter space. The construction is based on description of the massive three dimensional fields in terms of frame-like gauge invariant formalism and technique of gauge invariant curvatures. For the two possible massive supermultiplets (s,s+1/2) and (s,s-1/2) we derive explicit form of the supertransformations leaving the sum of bosonic and fermionic Lagrangians invariant.
We give explicit construction for massive higher spin supermultiplets for the case of minimal supersymmetry in d=3 and find the corresponding Lagrangian formulations. We show that all such massive supermultiplets can be straightforwardly constructed out of the appropriately chosen set of massless ones exactly in the same way as the gauge invariant description for the massive bosonic (fermionic) field with spin s can be obtained using a set of massless fields with spins s,s-1,...,0(1/2). Moreover, such construction for the massive supermultiplets turns out to be perfectly consistent with our pr…
This paper is mainly concerned with the construction of new off-shell higher spin N=1 supermultiplets in three spacetime dimensions. We elaborate on the gauge prepotentials and linearised super-Cotton tensors for higher spin N=1 superconformal geometry and propose compensating superfields required to formulate off-shell massless higher spin supermultiplets. The corresponding gauge-invariant actions are worked out explicitly using an auxiliary oscillator realisation. We construct, for the first time, off-shell massive higher spin supermultiplets. The gauge-invariant actions for these supermulti…
Unfolded equations of motion for symmetric massive bosonic fields of any spin in Minkowski and (A)dS spaces are presented. Manifestly gauge invariant action for a spin $s \ge 2$ massive field in any dimension is constructed in terms of gauge invariant curvatures.
We give an explicit component Lagrangian construction of massive higher spin on-shell $N=1$ supermultiplets in four-dimensional Anti-de Sitter space $AdS_4$. We use a frame-like gauge invariant description of massive higher spin bosonic and fermionic fields. For the two types of the supermultiplets (with integer and half-integer superspins) each one containing two massive bosonic and two massive fermionic fields we derive the supertransformations leaving the sum of four their free Lagrangians invariant such that the algebra of these supertransformations is closed on-shell.
We extend the discussion of arXiv:1007.5254 on massive Regge excitations on the first mass level of four-dimensional superstring theory. For the lightest massive modes of the open string sector, universal supermultiplets common to all four-dimensional compactifications with N = 1, 2 and N = 4 spacetime supersymmetry are constructed respectively -- both their vertex operators and their supersymmetry variations. Massive spinor helicity methods shed light on the interplay between individual polarization states.
In this paper we construct an unfolded formulation for the massive bosonic higher spins in three dimensions as well as for their partially massless limit of the maximal depth. We begin with the equations for the one-forms coming from the frame-like gauge invariant Lagrangians for such fields and then we supplement them with the infinite number of equations for the appropriately chosen set of zero-forms.
In this paper we construct explicit Lagrangian formulation for the massive spin-2 supermultiplets with N = k supersymmetries k = 1,2,3,4. Such multiplets contain 2k particles with spin-3/2, so there must exist N = 2k local supersymmetries in the full nonlinear theories spontaneously broken so that only N = k global supersymmetries remain unbroken. In this paper we unhide these hidden supersymmetries by using gauge invariant formulation for massive high spin particles. Such formulation, operating with the right set of physical degrees of freedom from the very beginning and having non-singular m…
We propose a simple unfolded description of free massive higher spin particles in anti-de-Sitter spacetime. While our unfolded equation of motion has the standard form of a covariant constancy condition, our formulation differs from the standard one in that our field takes values in a different internal space, which for us is simply a unitary irreducible representation of the symmetry group. Our main result is the explicit construction, for the case of AdS$_3$, of a map from our formulation to the standard wave equations for massive higher spin particles, as well as to the unfolded description…
The representation theory underlying the infinite-component relativistic wave equation written by Majorana is revisited from a modern perspective. On the one hand, the massless solutions of this equation are shown to form a supermultiplet of the superPoincare algebra with tensorial central charges; it can also be obtained as the infinite spin limit of massive solutions. On the other hand, the Majorana equation is generalized for any space-time dimension and for arbitrary Regge trajectories. Inspired from these results, an infinite supermultiplet of massive fields of all spins and of equal mass…
Given the success of the deconstruction program in obtaining ghost-free massive gravity from 5-D Einstein gravity, we propose a modification of the deconstruction procedure that incorporates supersymmetry at the linear level. We discuss the relevant limits of a conjectured interacting theory of a massive spin 2 supermultiplet, and determine the linear theory to be the N=1 Zinoviev theory, a supersymmetric extension of Fierz-Pauli theory. We develop a family of 1-site deconstruction procedures for fermionic fields (yielding Dirac and Majorana mass terms). The deconstruction procedure appropriat…
BPS representations of 5-dimensional supersymmetry algebras are classified. For BPS states preserving 1/2 the supersymmetry, there are two distinct classes of multiplets for N=4 supersymmetry and three classes for N=8 supersymmetry. For N=4 matter theories, the two 1/2 supersymmetric BPS multiplets are the massive vector multiplet and the massive self-dual 2-form multiplet. Some applications to super-Yang-Mills, supergravity and little string theories are considered.
We review the component Lagrangian construction of the supersymmetric higher spin models in three dimensional (3D) Minkowski and anti de Sitter (AdS) spaces. The approach is based on the frame-like gauge invariant formulation, where massive higher spin fields are realized through a system of massless ones. We develop a supersymmetric generalization of this formulation to the Lagrangian construction of the on-shell N=1, 3D higher spin supermultiplets. In 3D Minkowski space we show that the massive supermultiplets can be constructed from one extended massless supermultiplet by adding the mass te…
We investigate the unfolded formulation of bosonic Lorentz tensor fields of arbitrary spin in $AdS_3$ containing a parity breaking mass parameter. They include deformations of the linearisations of the Prokushkin--Vasiliev higher spin theory around its critical points. They also provide unfolded formulations of linearized topologically massive higher spin fields including their critical versions. The gauge invariant degrees of freedom are captured by infinite towers of zero forms. We also introduce two inequivalent sets of gauge potentials given by trace constrained Fronsdal fields and trace u…
We utilise a quotient of the universal enveloping algebra of the Poincaré algebra in three spacetime dimensions, on which we formulate a covariant constancy condition. The equations so obtained contain the Fierz-Pauli equations for non-interacting, massive higher-spin fields, and can thus be regarded as an unfolding of the Fierz-Pauli system. All fundamental fields completely decouple from each other. In the non-truncated case, the field content includes infinitely many copies of each field at fixed spin.
We construct an unfolded system for off-shell fields of arbitrary integer spin in 4d anti-de Sitter space. To this end we couple an on-shell system, encoding Fronsdal equations, to external Fronsdal currents for which we find an unfolded formulation. We present a reduction of the Fronsdal current system which brings it to the unfolded Fierz-Pauli system describing massive fields of arbitrary integer spin. Reformulating off-shell higher-spin system as the set of Schwinger-Dyson equations we compute propagators of higher-spin fields in the de Donder gauge directly from the unfolded equations. We…
Within the framework of (2,0) anti-de Sitter (AdS) supersymmetry in three dimensions, we propose a multiplet of higher-spin currents. Making use of this supercurrent, we construct two off-shell gauge formulations for a massless multiplet of half-integer superspin $(s+\frac 12)$, for every integer $s>0$. In the $s=1$ case, one formulation describes the linearised action for (2,0) anti-de Sitter supergravity, while the other gives the type III minimal supergravity action in (2,0) AdS superspace, with both linearised supergravity actions originally derived in arXiv:1109.0496. The constructed mass…
We construct the integrated vertex operator for the first massive states of open superstrings with $(mass)^2=1/α'$ in the pure spinor formalism of the superstring theory. This vertex operator is expressed in terms of the ten dimensional $\mathcal{N}=1$ superfields describing the massive supermultiplet which appear in the unintegrated vertex operator of the same states.
In this paper we consider massless spin 2 interacting with the massive arbitrary spin fermions in d=3. First of all, we study all possible deformations for the massive fermion unfolded equations in the massless spin 2 background. We find three linearly independent solutions one of which corresponds to the standard gravitational interactions. Then for all three cases we reconstruct appropriate Lagrangian formulation.
In the framework of linearized non-minimal supergravity (20/20), we present the embedding of the $R + R^2$ model and we analyze its field spectrum. As usual, the auxiliary fields of the Einstein theory now become propagating, giving rise to additional degrees of freedom, which organize themselves into on-shell irreducible supermultiplets. By performing the analysis both in component and superspace formulations we identify the new supermultiplets. On top of the two massive chiral superfields reminiscent of the old-minimal supergravity embedding, the spectrum contains also a consistent physical,…
We construct a novel topologically massive abelian Chern-Simons gauge theory with 32 global supersymmetries in three spacetime dimensions. In spite of the 32 supercharges, the theory exhibits massive excitations only up to spin 1. The possibility of such a multiplet shortening is due to the presence of non-central R-symmetry generators in the Poincare superalgebra, whose supermultiplets are determined.
In this paper, a gauge invariant description of massive higher spin bosonic and fermionic particles in frame-like Lagrangian and unfolded formalism in (A)dS${}_4$ is built. A complete set of gauge invariant object is also constructed and the Lagrangian is rewritten in terms of these objects. The unitarity of the theories is studied alongside with the partially massless limits. The calculations are carried out in the multispinor formalism, which simplifies them and is particularly convenient for the supersymmetry studies.
In this paper we elaborate on higher spin cubic interactions for massless, massive and partially massless fields. We work in the gauge invariant frame-like multispinor formalism, combining Lagrangian and unfolded formulations.
An explicit form for the lagrangian of an arbitrary half-integer superspin ${\textsf{Y}}=s+1/2$ supermultiplet is obtained in $4{\rm D},~\mathcal{N}=1$ superspace. This is accomplished by the introduction of a tower of pairs of auxiliary superfields of increasing rank which are required to vanish on-shell for free theories. In the massless limit almost all auxiliary superfields decouple except one, which plays the role of compensator as required by the emergent gauge redundancy of the Lagrangian description of the massless theory. The number of off-shell degrees of freedom carried by the theor…
We construct a "Chern-Simons-like" action for N=1 Topologically Massive Supergravity from the Chern-Simons actions of N=1 Supergravity and Conformal Supergravity. We convert this action into Hamiltonian form and use this to demonstrate that the theory propagates a single massive (2, 3/2) supermultiplet.
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…
We describe several families of primary linear supermultiplets coupled to three-dimensional ${\cal N}=2$ conformal supergravity and use them to construct topological $BF$-type terms. We introduce conformal higher-spin gauge superfields and associate with them Chern-Simons-type actions that are constructed as an extension of the linearised action for ${\cal N}=2$ conformal supergravity. These actions possess gauge and super-Weyl invariance in any conformally flat superspace and involve a higher-spin generalisation of the linearised ${\cal N}=2$ super-Cotton tensor. For massless higher-spin supe…
This thesis presents the general structure of non-conformal higher-spin supercurrent multiplets in three and four spacetime dimensions. Such supercurrents are in one-to-one correspondence with off-shell massless higher-spin gauge supermultiplets, some of which are constructed in this thesis for the first time. In the first part of the thesis, we propose a new off-shell formulation for a massless integer superspin multiplet, whose gauge-invariant action involves an unconstrained complex superconformal prepotential, in conjunction with two types of compensators. Next, we deduce the structure of …
Off-shell higher spin N=2 supermultiplets in three spacetime dimensions (3D) are presented in this paper. We propose gauge prepotentials for higher spin superconformal gravity and construct the corresponding gauge-invariant field strengths, which are proved to be conformal primary superfields. These field strengths are higher spin generalisations of the (linearised) N=2 super-Cotton tensor, which controls the superspace geometry of conformal supergravity. We also construct the higher spin extensions of the linearised N=2 conformal supergravity action. We provide two dually equivalent off-shell…
We investigate cubic interactions between a chiral superfield and higher spin superfield corresponding to irreducible representations of the $4D,\, \mathcal{N}=1$ super-Poincaré algebra. We do this by demanding an invariance under the most general transformation, linear in the chiral superfield. Following Noether's method we construct an infinite tower of higher spin supercurrent multiplets which are quadratic in the chiral superfield and include higher derivatives. The results are that a single, massless, chiral superfield can couple only to the half-integer spin supermultiplets $(s+1,s+1/2)$…
For the gauge massless higher spin 4D, N = 1 off-shell supermultiplets previously developed, we provide evidence of a twistor-like oscillator realization that is intrinsically related to the superfield structure of the dynamical variables and gauge transformations. Gauge invariant field strengths and linearized Bianchi identities for these multiplets are worked out. It is further argued, inspired by earlier non- supersymmetric constructions due to Klishevich and Zinoviev, that a massive superspin-$s$ multiplet can be described as a gauge-invariant dynamical system involving massless multiplets…
In three dimensions, it is known that field theories possessing extended $(p,q)$ anti-de Sitter (AdS) supersymmetry with ${\cal N}=p+q \geq 3$ can be realised in (2,0) AdS superspace. Here we present a formalism to reduce every field theory with (2,0) AdS supersymmetry to ${\cal N}=1$ AdS superspace. As nontrivial examples, we consider supersymmetric nonlinear sigma models formulated in terms of ${\cal N}=2$ chiral and linear supermultiplets. The $(2,0) \to (1,0)$ AdS reduction technique is then applied to the off-shell massless higher-spin supermultiplets in (2,0) AdS superspace constructed i…
The massive six-dimensional (6D) superparticle with manifest (n,0) supersymmetry is shown to have a supertwistor formulation in which its "hidden" (0,n) supersymmetry is also manifest. The mass-shell constraint is replaced by Spin(5) spin-shell constraints which imply that the quantum superparticle has zero superspin, for n=1 it propagates the 6D Proca supermultiplet.
We discuss the role of a class of higher dimensional operators in 4D N=1 supersymmetric effective theories. The Lagrangian in such theories is an expansion in momenta below the scale of "new physics" ($Λ$) and contains the effective operators generated by integrating out the "heavy states" above $Λ$ present in the UV complete theory. We go beyond the "traditional" leading order in this momentum expansion (in $\partial/Λ$). Keeping manifest supersymmetry and using superfield {\it constraints} we show that the corresponding higher dimensional (derivative) operators in the sectors of chiral, line…
In the present investigation we consider the possibility of having new massive, higher spin W-supergravity theories, which do not exist as four-dimensional perturbative models. These theories are based on a double copy construction of two supersymmetric field theories, where at least one factor is given by a N=3 field theory, which is a non-perturbative S-fold of N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. In this way, we can obtain as S-folds a new N=7 (corresponding to 28 supercharges) W-supergravity and its N=7 W-superstring counterpart, which both do not exist as four-dimensional perturbative models with…
We discuss the connection between Weyl$^2$ supergravity and superstrings and further discuss holography between 4-dimensional, ${\cal N}=4$ superconformal Weyl$^2$ supergravity and ${\cal N}=8$, higher spin-four theory on $AdS_5$. The Weyl$^2$ plus Einstein supergravity theory is a special kind of a bimetric gravity theory and consists of a massless graviton multiplet plus an additional massive spin-two supermultiplet. Here, we argue that the additional spin-two field and its superpartners originate from massive excitations in the open string sector; just like the ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills…
A contribution to the collection of reviews "Introduction to Higher Spin Theory" edited by S. Fredenhagen, this introductory article is a pedagogical account of higher-spin fields and their connections with String Theory. We start with the motivations for and a brief historical overview of the subject. We discuss the Wigner classifications of unitary irreducible Poincaré-modules, write down covariant field equations for totally symmetric massive and massless representations in flat space, and consider their Lagrangian formulation. After an elementary exposition of the AdS unitary representatio…
We study the imprint of higher spin supermultiplets on cosmological correlators, namely the non-Gaussianity of the cosmic microwave background. Supersymmetry is used as a guide to introduce the contribution of fermionic higher spin particles, which have been neglected thus far in the literature. This necessarily introduces more than just a single additional fermionic superpartner, since the spectrum of massive, higher spin supermultiplets includes two propagating higher spin bosons and two propagating higher spin fermions, which all contribute to the three point function. As an example we cons…
We propose a (3+1)D linear set of covariant vector equations, which unify the spin 0 ``new Dirac equation'' with its spin 1/2 counterpart, proposed by Staunton. Our equations describe a spin (0,1/2) supermultiplet with different numbers of degrees of freedom in the bosonic and fermionic sectors. The translation-invariant spin deegres of freedom are carried by two copies of the Heisenberg algebra. This allows us to realize space-time supersymmetry in a bosonized form. The grading structure is provided by an internal reflection operator. Then the construction is generalized by means of the Major…
We consider a four dimensional generalized Wess-Zumino model formulated in terms of an arbitrary Kähler potential $\mathcal{K}(Φ,\barΦ)$ and an arbitrary chiral superpotential $\mathcal{W}(Φ)$. A general analysis is given to describe the possible interactions of this theory with external higher spin gauge superfields of the ($s+1,s+1/2$) supermultiplet via higher spin supercurrents. It is shown that such interactions do not exist beyond supergravity $(s\geq2)$ for any $\mathcal{K}$ and $\mathcal{W}$. However, we find three exceptions, the theory of a free massless chiral, the theory of a free …
In three dimensions, there are two types of ${\cal N}=2$ anti-de Sitter (AdS) supersymmetry, which are denoted (1,1) and (2,0). They are characterised by different supercurrents and support different families of higher-spin gauge models (massless and massive) which were constructed in arXiv:1807.09098 and arXiv:1809.00802 for the (1,1) and (2,0) cases, respectively, using superspace techniques. It turns out that the precise difference between the (1,1) and (2,0) higher-spin supermultiplets can be pinned down by reducing these gauge theories to (1,0) AdS superspace. The present paper is devoted…
We classify states saturating a double or a single supersymmetric positivity bound of a four-dimensional N=4 supersymmetry. The massive four-dimensional double-bound states (Bogomolny states) are shown to form a light-like representation of ten-dimensional supersymmetry. The single-bound states form a massive representation (centrino multiplet) of a four-dimensional supersymmetry. The first component of the centrino multiplet is identified with extreme black holes with regular horizon which have one quarter of unbroken supersymmetry. The centrino multiplet includes a massive spin 3/2 state, th…
Self-interacting massive particles with spin $\geq 1$ unavoidably violate unitarity; the question is at what scale. For spin-$1$ the strong coupling scale (at which perturbative unitarity is lost) cannot be raised by any finite tuning of the interactions, while for spin-$2$ there exists a special tuning of the Wilson coefficients which can raise this scale (and enjoys numerous special properties such as ghost-freedom). Here, we fill in the missing piece by describing how the self-interactions of a massive spin-$3/2$ field, or "massive gravitino", become strongly coupled at high energies. We sh…
The off-shell actions for $\cal N$-extended conformal supergravity theories in three dimensions were formulated in [1,2] for $1\leq {\cal N} \leq 6$ using a universal approach. Each action is generated by a closed super three-form which is constructed in terms of the constrained geometry of $\cal N$-extended conformal superspace. In this paper we initiate a program to recast these actions (and to formulate their higher-spin counterparts) in terms of unconstrained gauge prepotentials as integrals over the full superspace. We derive transverse projection operators in $\cal N$-extended Minkowski …
We treat free large N superconformal field theories as holographic duals of higher spin (HS) gauge theories expanded around AdS spacetime with radius R. The HS gauge theories contain massless and light massive AdS fields. The HS current correlators are written in a crossing symmetric form including only exchange of other HS currents. This and other arguments point to the existence of a consistent truncation to massless HS fields. A survey of massless HS theories with 32 supersymmetries in D=4,5,7 (where the 7D results are new) is given and the corresponding composite operators are discussed. I…