Mixed-symmetry multiplets and higher-spin curvatures

Xavier Bekaert (1, 2) , Nicolas Boulanger (3) , Dario Francia (4, 5)

1 LMPT - Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Physique Théorique
2 FDP - Fédération de recherche Denis Poisson
3 UMons - Université de Mons
4 INFN - Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
5 SNS - Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa

We study the higher-derivative equations for gauge potentials of arbitrary mixed-symmetry type obtained by setting to zero the divergences of the corresponding curvature tensors. We show that they propagate the same reducible multiplets as the Maxwell-like second-order equations for gauge fields subject to constrained gauge transformations. As an additional output of our analysis, we provide a streamlined presentation of the Ricci-like case, where the traces of the same curvature tensors are set to zero, and we present a simple algebraic evaluation of the particle content associated with the Labastida and with the Maxwell-like second-order equations.

Domaines: Physique des Hautes Energies - Théorie [hep-th]

Xavier Bekaert, Nicolas Boulanger, Dario Francia. Mixed-symmetry multiplets and higher-spin curvatures. Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, 2015, 48 (22), pp.225401. ⟨10.1088/1751-8113/48/22/225401⟩. ⟨hal-01266439⟩