Scalar Field on a higher-spin Background via Fedosov quantization

Abstract

Conformal higher-spin gravity is the log-divergent part of the effective action of the scalar field coupled to background fields via higher-spin currents, as was defined by Segal and Tseytlin, which can be worked out over the flat space background. We revisit the problem of the scalar field in a higher-spin background and propose a manifestly covariant version thereof. The construction utilizes the Fedosov quantization of the cotangent bundle and the action is written with the help of the trace on a curved phase space that is provided by the Feigin--Felder--Shoikhet cocycle. The same construction allows one to formulate quantum mechanics on a curved space, the phase space being the cotangent bundle.