Helicity-1/2 Mode as a Probe of Interactions of Massive Rarita-Schwinger Field

Abstract

We consider the electromagnetic and gravitational interactions of a massive Rarita-Schwinger field. Stueckelberg analysis of the system, when coupled to electromagnetism in flat space or to gravity, reveals in either case that the effective field theory has a model-independent upper bound on its UV cutoff, which is finite but parametrically larger than the particle's mass. It is the helicity-1/2 mode that becomes strongly coupled at the cutoff scale. If the interactions are inconsistent, the same mode becomes a telltale sign of pathologies. Alternatively, consistent interactions are those that propagate this mode within the light cone. Studying its dynamics not only sheds light on the Velo-Zwanziger acausality, but also elucidates why supergravity and other known consistent models are pathology-free.

18 pages, cutoff analysis improved, to appear in PRD

References in corpus (4)

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• A Model Independent Ultraviolet Cutoff for Theories with Charged Massive Higher Spin Fields
• Intrinsic Cutoff and Acausality for Massive Spin 2 Fields Coupled to Electromagnetism
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