2017/04/30 by Charlotte Sleight, Massimo Taronna · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.121.171604
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 171604 (2018) · 10 pages + refs. v2: Improved presentation, clarifications and references added. Some parts removed which just reviewed previous published work. To appear in Physical Review Letters
arxiv created 2018/10/18 · arxiv updated 2018/10/31
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.