On Conformal and Sp(8) Symmetry of 4d Higher-Spin Gauge Fields

por M. A. Vasiliev (Lebedev Institue)

lunes 23 oct. 2006 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Sala Seminarios (Dpto. de Física Teórica (UVEG))

It will be shown that usual free field equations for massless gauge fields have more global symmetries when formulated in a AdS-like curved symmetric space than in Minkowski space. In particular, it will be shown that, although the conformal symmetry su(2,2) admits no consistent local realization in terms of spin s>1 gauge potentials in 4d Minkowski space, it can be defined in the AdS_4 background. Analogous phenomenon will be shown to take place for the sp(8|R) symmetry of the infinite tower of massless higher spin fields of all spins. Relevant properties of the first-order "unfolded dynamics" approach undelrying the construction will be discussed in some detail.