Higher-Spin Gauge Theories and Bulk Locality

Abstract

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.

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

References in corpus (18)

• Holography from Conformal Field Theory
• Writing CFT correlation functions as AdS scattering amplitudes
• Asymptotic symmetries of three-dimensional gravity coupled to higher-spin fields
• Comments on operators with large spin
• Universal Limits on Massless High-Spin Particles
• Solving CFTs with Weakly Broken Higher Spin Symmetry
• Spinning Witten Diagrams
• On four-point interactions in massless higher spin theory in flat space
• Higher-Spin Algebras, Holography and Flat Space
• On triviality of S-matrix in conformal higher spin theory
• On the Non-Local Obstruction to Interacting Higher Spins in Flat Space
• On Killing tensors and cubic vertices in higher-spin gauge theories
• Higher-spin Chern-Simons theories in odd dimensions
• Holography, Duality and Higher-Spin Theories
• Locality, Causality, and an Initial Value Formulation for Open String Field Theory
• Feynman rules for higher-spin gauge fields on AdS${}_{d+1}$
• Noncommutative Wilson lines in higher-spin theory and correlation functions of conserved currents for free conformal fields
• Higher-Spin Interactions: three-point functions and beyond

Cited by in corpus (75)

• Quantum de Sitter horizon entropy from quasicanonical bulk, edge, sphere and topological string partition functions
• Light-Front Bootstrap for Chern-Simons Matter Theories
• More on Quantum Chiral Higher Spin Gravity
• Actions for Self-dual Higher Spin Gravities
• AdS Maps and Diagrams of Bi-local Holography
• A Derivation of AdS/CFT for Vector Models
• Quantum ${\varphi }^4$ Theory in AdS${}_4$ and its CFT Dual
• Anomalous Dimensions from Crossing Kernels
• Cubic interactions for arbitrary spin N-extended massless supermultiplets in 4d flat space
• One-loop Finiteness of Chiral Higher Spin Gravity
• Limiting Shifted Homotopy in Higher-Spin Theory and Spin-Locality
• Homotopy Operators and Locality Theorems in Higher-Spin Equations
• Basic introduction to higher-spin theories
• From bulk loops to boundary large-N expansion
• Cubic interactions of massless bosonic fields in three dimensions II: Parity-odd and Chern-Simons vertices
• Formal Higher Spin Gravities
• Spin-Locality of Higher-Spin Theories and Star-Product Functional Classes
• Twistor Constructions for Higher-spin Extensions of (Self-dual) Yang-Mills
• On holomorphic sector of higher-spin theory
• Spin-Locality of ${\eta }^2$ and ${\bar{\eta }}^2$ Quartic Higher-Spin Vertices
• More on Chiral Higher Spin Gravity and Convex Geometry
• Cubic Vertices for N=1 Supersymmetric Massless Higher Spin Fields in Various Dimensions
• Toward a twistor action for chiral higher-spin gravity
• Higher-spin Yang-Mills, amplitudes and self-duality
• Projectively-Compact Spinor Vertices and Space-Time Spin-Locality in Higher-Spin Theory
• Minimal model of Chiral Higher Spin Gravity
• A Compendium of Sphere Path Integrals
• Chiral Higher Spin Gravity and Convex Geometry
• Vertex-Constraints in 3D Higher Spin Theories
• On one loop corrections in higher spin gravity
• Fronsdal fields from gauge functions in Vasiliev's higher-spin gravity
• Manifest Form of the Spin-Local Higher-Spin Vertex ${{\rm Y}}_{\omega CCC}^{\eta \eta }$
• A Stringy theory in three dimensions and Massive Higher Spins
• Planar solutions of higher-spin theory. Nonlinear corrections
• Quartic locality of higher-spin gravity in de Sitter and Euclidean anti-de Sitter space
• Slightly Broken Higher Spin Symmetry: General Structure of Correlators
• Characteristic Cohomology and Observables in Higher Spin Gravity
• ABJ Correlators with Weakly Broken Higher Spin Symmetry
• Higher-spin symmetry vs. boundary locality, and a rehabilitation of dS/CFT
• Chiral higher-spin holography in flat space: the Flato-Fronsdal theorem and lower-point functions
• A Twistorial Description of the IKKT-Matrix Model
• ABJ Quadrality
• Higher Spin Gravities and Presymplectic AKSZ Models
• Metaplectic representation and ordering (in)dependence in Vasiliev's higher spin gravity
• Planar solutions of higher-spin theory I: free field level
• Restrictions for $n$-Point Vertices in Higher-Spin Theories
• Bilinear Fronsdal currents in the $Ad{S}_4$ higher-spin theory
• Higher spin fluctuations on spinless 4D BTZ black hole
• Higher-spin gauge theories in three spacetime dimensions
• Field theory expansions of string theory amplitudes
• Chiral approach to partially-massless fields
• Constraining higher-spin S-matrices
• Higher-spin gravity's "string": new gauge and proof of holographic duality for the linearized Didenko-Vasiliev solution
• On (spinor)-helicity and bosonization in $Ad{S}_4/CF{T}_3$
• 3d conformal fields with manifest $sl(2,\mathbb{C})$
• Explicit holography for vector models at finite $N$, volume and temperature
• Hidden sectors of Chern-Simons Matter theories and Exact Holography
• A note on higher-order vertices of higher-spin fields in flat and (A)dS space
• Infinite distances in multicritical CFTs and higher-spin holography
• Hypergravity in five dimensions
• Bulk locality and gauge invariance for boundary-bilocal cubic correlators in higher-spin gravity
• On correlation functions of higher-spin currents in arbitrary dimensions $d>3$
• Towards Massless Sector of Tensionless Strings on $Ad{S}_5$
• Gauging the higher-spin-like symmetries by the Moyal product
• On the consistency of (partially-)massless matter couplings in de Sitter space
• HS in flat spacetime. YM-like models
• New diagrammatic framework for higher-spin gravity
• HS Yang-Mills-like models: a review
• Higher-Spin Gauge Models in the BRST-antifield Formalism
• Nilpotency Property, Physicality Criteria, Constraints and Standard BRST Algebra: A 4D Field-Theoretic System
• Modified 3D Massive Abelian 2-From Theory with a Single Pseudo-Scalar Field as a Phantom Field: BRST Approach
• On boundary conditions and spacetime/fibre duality in Vasiliev's higher-spin gravity
• Chiral Higher Spin Gravity in (A)dS${}_4$ and secrets of Chern-Simons Matter Theories
• Antiquity, Dark Ages and Renaissance of Light-Front Higher Spin Theory
• Constructive approach to solution of the conservation condition for conformal higher spin tree-point correlation function with equal spins