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arXiv · 1702.08218

Formal Higher-Spin Theories and Kontsevich-Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality

A. A. Sharapov·E. D. Skvortsov
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Abstract

The formal algebraic structures that govern higher-spin theories within the unfolded approach turn out to be related to an extension of the Kontsevich Formality, namely, the Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality. Effectively, this allows one to construct the Hochschild cocycles of higher-spin algebras that make the interaction vertices. As an application of these results we construct a family of Vasiliev-like equations that generate the Hochschild cocycles with $sp(2n)$ symmetry from the corresponding cycles. A particular case of $sp(4)$ may be relevant for the on-shell action of the $4d$ theory. We also give the exact equations that describe propagation of higher-spin fields on a background of their own. The consistency of formal higher-spin theories turns out to have a purely geometric interpretation: there exists a certain symplectic invariant associated to cutting a polytope into simplices, namely, the Alexander-Spanier cocycle.

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A. A. Sharapov, E. D. Skvortsov. 2017-02-27. Formal Higher-Spin Theories and Kontsevich-Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2017.06.005

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