(A)dS exchanges and partially-massless higher spins


Abstract in English

We determine the current exchange amplitudes for free totally symmetric tensor fields $vf_{mu_1 ... mu_s}$ of mass $M$ in a $d$-dimensional $dS$ space, extending the results previously obtained for $s=2$ by other authors. Our construction is based on an unconstrained formulation where both the higher-spin gauge fields and the corresponding gauge parameters $Lambda_{mu_1 >... mu_{s-1}}$ are not subject to Fronsdals trace constraints, but compensator fields $alpha_{mu_1 ... mu_{s-3}}$ are introduced for $s > 2$. The free massive $dS$ equations can be fully determined by a radial dimensional reduction from a $(d+1)$-dimensional Minkowski space time, and lead for all spins to relatively handy closed-form expressions for the exchange amplitudes, where the external currents are conserved, both in $d$ and in $(d+1)$ dimensions, but are otherwise arbitrary. As for $s=2$, these amplitudes are rational functions of $(ML)^2$, where $L$ is the $dS$ radius. In general they are related to the hypergeometric functions $_3F_2(a,b,c;d,e;z)$, and their poles identify a subset of the partially-massless discrete states, selected by the condition that the gauge transformations of the corresponding fields contain some non-derivative terms. Corresponding results for $AdS$ spaces can be obtained from these by a formal analytic continuation, while the massless limit is smooth, with no van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov discontinuity.

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