In a conformally flat three-dimensional spacetime, the linearised higher-spin Cotton tensor $\mathfrak{C}_{α(n)}(h)$ is the unique conserved conformal current which is a gauge-invariant descendant of the conformal gauge prepotential $h_{α(n)}$. The explicit form of $\mathfrak{C}_{α(n)}(h)$ is well known in Minkowski space. Here we solve the problem of extending the Minkowskian result to the case of anti-de Sitter (AdS) space and derive a closed-form expression for $\mathfrak{C}_{α(n)}(h)$ in terms of the AdS Lorentz covariant derivatives. It is shown that every conformal higher-spin action $S_{\text{CS}}^{(n)}[h]\propto \int\text{d}^3x\, e \, h^{α(n)}\mathfrak{C}_{α(n)}(h) $ factorises into a product of $(n-1)$ first-order operators that are associated with the spin-$n/2$ partially massless AdS values. Our findings greatly facilitate the on-shell analysis of massive higher-spin gauge-invariant actions in AdS$_3$. The main results are extended to the case of $\mathcal{N}=1$ AdS supersymmetry. In particular, we derive simple expressions for the higher-spin super-Cotton tensors in AdS$_3$.
We discuss conserved currents constructed from the Cotton tensor and (conformal) Killing-Yano tensors (KYTs). We consider the corresponding charges generally and then exemplify with the four-dimensional Plebański-Demiański metric where they are proportional to the sum of the squares of the electric and the magnetic charges. As part of the derivation, we also find the two conformal Killing-Yano tensors of the Plebański-Demiański metric in the recently introduced coordinates of Podolsky and Vratny. The construction of asymptotic charges for the Cotton current is elucidated and compared to the th…
We elaborate on the spin projection operators in three dimensions and use them to derive a new representation for the linearised higher-spin Cotton tensors.
Carroll-Cotton Tensors and Gravitational Radiation at Null Infinity
École polytechnique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – Unité Mixte de Recherche 7644, Institut Polytechnique de Paris（巴黎综合理工学院，法国国家科学研究中心联合研究单位7644，巴黎理工学院）；Université Libre de Bruxelles and International Solvay Institutes（布鲁塞尔自由大学和国际索尔维研究所）；International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA)（高级国际研究学院（SISSA））；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Trieste（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）；Université de Mons（蒙斯大学）
In three spacetime dimensions, (super)conformal geometry is controlled by the (super) Cotton tensor. We present a new duality transformation for N-extended supersymmetric theories formulated in terms of the linearised super-Cotton tensor or its higher spin extensions for the cases N=2, 1, 0. In the N=2 case, this transformation is a generalisation of the linear-chiral duality, which is known to provide a dual description in terms of chiral superfields for general models of self-interacting N=2 vector multiplets in three dimensions and N=1 tensor multiplets in four dimensions. For superspin-1 (…
We develop a manifestly conformal approach to describe linearised (super)conformal higher-spin gauge theories in arbitrary conformally flat backgrounds in three and four spacetime dimensions. Closed-form expressions in terms of gauge prepotentials are given for gauge-invariant higher-spin (super) Cotton and (super) Weyl tensors in three and four dimensions, respectively. The higher-spin (super) Weyl tensors are shown to be conformal primary (super)fields in arbitrary conformal (super)gravity backgrounds, however they are gauge invariant only if the background (super) Weyl tensor vanishes. The …
In this article we probe the proposed holographic duality between $T\bar{T}$ deformed two dimensional conformal field theory and the gravity theory of $\rm AdS_3$ with a Dirichlet cutoff by computing correlators of energy-momentum tensor. We focus on the large central charge sector of the $T\bar{T}$ CFT in a Euclidean plane and in a sphere, and compute the correlators of energy-momentum tensor using an operator identity promoted from the classical trace relation. The result agrees with a computation of classical pure gravity in $\rm AdS_3$ with the corresponding cutoff surface, given a hologra…
The eikonal phase which determines the Regge limit of the gravitational scattering amplitude of a light particle off a heavy one in Minkowski spacetimes admits an expansion in the ratio of the Schwarzschild radius of the heavy particle to the impact parameter. Such an eikonal phase in AdS spacetimes of any dimensionality has been computed to all orders and reduces to the corresponding Minkowski result when both the impact parameter and the Schwarzschild radius are much smaller than the AdS radius. The leading term in the AdS eikonal phase can be reproduced in the dual CFT by a single stress te…
In three dimensions, there exist modifications of Einstein's gravity akin to the topologically massive gravity that describe massive gravitons about maximally symmetric backgrounds. These theories are built on the three-dimensional version of the Bach tensor (a curl of the Cotton-York tensor) and its higher derivative generalizations; and they are on-shell consistent without a Lagrangian description based on the metric tensor alone. We give a generic construction of these models, find the spectra and compute the conserved quantities for the Banados-Teitelboim-Zanelli black hole.
We study the spectrum of certain two-particle operators in the supergravity regime of the D1-D5 system, focussing on the four-point correlators of tensor multiplets on $AdS_3\times S^3$ at tree level. In Mellin space, these are nicely determined by a single amplitude, which makes manifest the large $p$ limit, the connection with the flat space S-matrix, and the six dimensional conformal symmetry. We compute the $(1,1)\times \overline{(1,1)}$ superconformal blocks for the two-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=(4,4)$ conformal theory at the boundary, and then we obtain a formula for the anomalous dimensi…
