Spin raising and lowering operators for Rarita-Schwinger fields

Abstract

Spin raising and lowering operators for massless field equations constructed from twistor spinors are considered. Solutions of the spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ massless Rarita-Schwinger equation from source-free Maxwell fields and twistor spinors are constructed. It is shown that this construction requires Ricci-flat backgrounds due to the gauge invariance of the massless Rarita-Schwinger equation. Constraints to construct spin raising and lowering operators for Rarita-Schwinger fields are found. Symmetry operators for Rarita-Schwinger fields via twistor spinors are obtained.

10 pages, an appendix added, published version