Massive Higher Spins: Effective Theory and Consistency

Brando Bellazzini (1) , Francesco Riva , Javi Serra , Francesco Sgarlata

1 IPHT - Institut de Physique Théorique - UMR CNRS 3681

We construct the effective field theory for a single massive higher-spin particle in flat spacetime. Positivity bounds of the S-matrix force the cutoff of the theory to be well below the naive strong-coupling scale, forbid any potential and make therefore higher- derivative operators important even at low energy. As interesting application, we discuss in detail the massive spin-3 theory and show that an extended Galileon-like symmetry of the longitudinal modes, even with spin, emerges at high energy.

Mots clés: Effective Field Theories; Scattering Amplitudes; energy: high; spin: high; derivative: high; energy: low; effective field theory; strong coupling; longitudinal; space-time; S-matrix

Domaines: Physique des Hautes Energies - Théorie [hep-th]; Physique des Hautes Energies - Phénoménologie [hep-ph]

Brando Bellazzini, Francesco Riva, Javi Serra, Francesco Sgarlata. Massive Higher Spins: Effective Theory and Consistency. Journal of High Energy Physics, 2019, 10, pp.189. ⟨10.1007/JHEP10(2019)189⟩. ⟨cea-02438444v1⟩