From higher-spin gauge interactions to Compton amplitudes for root-Kerr

We show that, in the weak field limit, at large separations, in sharp contrast to General Relativity (GR), all massive gravity theories predict distance-dependent spin alignments for spinning objects. For all separations GR requires anti-parallel spin orientations with spins pointing along the line joining the sources. Hence total spin is minimized in GR. On the other hand, while massive gravity at small separations ($m_gr \le1.62$) gives the same result as GR, for large sepa...

It has recently been pointed out that particles falling freely from rest at infinity outside a Kerr black hole can in principle collide with arbitrarily high center of mass energy in the limiting case of maximal black hole spin. Here we aim to elucidate the mechanism for this fascinating result, and to point out its practical limitations, which imply that ultra-energetic collisions cannot occur near black holes in nature.

In this paper, a gauge invariant description of massive higher spin bosonic and fermionic particles in frame-like Lagrangian and unfolded formalism in (A)dS${}_4$ is built. A complete set of gauge invariant object is also constructed and the Lagrangian is rewritten in terms of these objects. The unitarity of the theories is studied alongside with the partially massless limits. The calculations are carried out in the multispinor formalism, which simplifies them and is particul...

It has been suggested that amplitudes for quantum higher-spin massive particles exchanging gravitons lead, via a classical limit, to results for scattering of spinning black holes in general relativity, when the massive particles are in a certain way minimally coupled to gravity. Such limits of such amplitudes suggest, at least at lower orders in spin, up to second order in the gravitational constant $G$, that the classical aligned-spin scattering function for an arbitrary-ma...

We formulate a general gauge invariant Lagrangian construction describing the dynamics of massive higher spin fermionic fields in arbitrary dimensions. Treating the conditions determining the irreducible representations of Poincare group with given spin as the operator constraints in auxiliary Fock space, we built the BRST charge for the model under consideration and find the gauge invariant equations of motion in terms of vectors and operators in the Fock space. It is shown ...

These lecture notes provide an introduction to higher-spin gauge theories in three spacetime dimensions, with a focus on their asymptotic symmetries, their holographic description in terms of conformal field theories with W-symmetries as well as on their couplings to scalar matter.

In their simplest form, metric-like Lagrangians for higher-spin massless fields display constrained gauge symmetries, unless auxiliary fields are introduced or locality is foregone. Specifically, in its standard incarnation, gauge invariance of Maxwell-like Lagrangians relies on parameters with vanishing divergence. We propose an alternative form of the corresponding local symmetry involving unconstrained parameters of mixed-symmetry type, described by rectangular two-row You...

Using the recently derived higher spin gravitational Compton amplitude from low-energy analytically continued ($a/Gm\gg1$) solutions of the Teukolsky equation for the scattering of a gravitational wave off the Kerr black hole, observables for non-radiating super-extremal Kerr binary systems at second post-Minkowskian (PM) order and up to sixth order in spin are computed. The relevant 2PM amplitude is obtained from the triangle-leading singularity in conjunction with a general...

A comprehensive approach to the theory of higher spin gauge fields is proposed. By explicitly separating out details of implementation from general principles, it becomes possible to focus on the bare minimum of requirements that such a theory must satisfy. The abstraction is based on a survey of the progress that has been achieved since relativistic wave equations for higher spin fields were first considered in the nineteen thirties. As a byproduct, a formalism is obtained t...

In general relativity, the motion of an extended test body is influenced by its proper rotation, or spin. We present a covariant and physically self-consistent Hamiltonian framework to study this motion, up to quadratic order in the body's spin, including a spin-induced quadrupole, and in an arbitrary background spacetime. The choice of spin supplementary condition and degeneracies associated with local Lorentz invariance are treated rigorously with adapted tools from Hamilto...