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Null Propagation of Partially Massless Higher Spins in (A)dS and Cosmological Constant Speculations

S. Deser·A. Waldron
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Abstract

We show explicitly that all partially and strictly massless fields with spins s<=3 in (A)dS have null propagation. Assuming that this property holds also for s>3, we derive the mass-cosmological constant tunings required to yield all higher spin partially massless theories. As s increases, the unitarily allowed region for massive spins is squeezed around Λ=0, so that an infinite tower of massive particles forces vanishing Λ. We also speculate on the relevance of this result to string theory and supergravity in (A)dS backgrounds.

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S. Deser, A. Waldron. 2001-06-11. Null Propagation of Partially Massless Higher Spins in (A)dS and Cosmological Constant Speculations. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0370-2693(01)00756-0

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