A CSP Field Theory with Helicity Correspondence

Abstract

We propose the first covariant local action describing the propagation of a single free continuous-spin degree of freedom. The theory is simply formulated as a gauge theory in a "vector superspace", but can also be formulated in terms of a tower of symmetric tensor gauge fields. When the spin invariant $\rho$ vanishes, the helicity correspondence is manifest -- familiar gauge theory actions are recovered and couplings to conserved currents can easily be introduced. For non-zero $\rho$, a tower of tensor currents must be present, of which only the lowest rank is exactly conserved. A paucity of local gauge-invariant operators for non-zero $\rho$ suggests that the equations of motion in any interacting theory should be covariant, not invariant, under a generalization of the free theory's gauge symmetry.

45 pages

References in corpus (2)

• Anyons and the quantum Hall effect - a pedagogical review
• Old and New No Go Theorems on Interacting Massless Particles in Flat Space

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• The four-dimensional on-shell three-point amplitude in spinor-helicity formalism and BCFW recursion relations