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arXiv · 1704.07859

Higher-Spin Gauge Theories and Bulk Locality

Charlotte Sleight·Massimo Taronna
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Abstract

We present a no-go result on consistent Noether interactions among higher-spin gauge fields on anti-de Sitter space-times. We show that there is a non-local obstruction at the classical level to consistent interacting field theory descriptions of massless higher-spin particles that are described in the free limit by the free Fronsdal action, under the assumption that such theories arise from the gauging of a global higher-spin symmetry. Our result suggests that the Fronsdal programme for introducing interactions among higher-spin gauge fields cannot be completed without introducing new guiding principles, which could lie beyond the framework of classical field theory.

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Charlotte Sleight, Massimo Taronna. 2018-10-18. Higher-Spin Gauge Theories and Bulk Locality. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.121.171604

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