Karapet Mkrtchyan

Imperial College London | Imperial

The spinor-helicity representations of massive and (partially) massless particles in four-dimensional (anti–)de Sitter (A)dS spacetime are studied within the framework of the dual pair correspondence. We show that the dual groups (also known as “little groups”) of the anti–de Sitter and de Sitter groups are, respectively, O ( 2 N ) and O * ( 2 N )...

A bstract We revisit the problem of classification and explicit construction of the conformal three-point correlation functions of currents of arbitrary integer spin in arbitrary dimensions. For the conserved currents, we set up the equations for the conservation conditions and solve them completely for some values of spins, confirming the earlier...

Chiral form fields in d dimensions can be effectively described as edge modes of topological Chern-Simons theories in d+1 dimensions. At the same time, manifestly Lorentz-invariant Lagrangian description of such fields directly in terms of a d-dimensional field theory is challenging and requires introducing nontrivial auxiliary gauge fields elimina...

We revisit the problem of classification and explicit construction of the conformal three-point correlation functions of currents of arbitrary integer spin in arbitrary dimensions. For the conserved currents, we set up the equations for the conservation conditions and solve them completely for some values of spins, confirming the earlier counting o...

Chiral form fields in $d$ dimensions can be effectively described as edge modes of topological Chern-Simons theories in $d+1$ dimensions. At the same time, manifestly Lorentz-invariant Lagrangian description of such fields directly in terms of a $d$-dimensional field theory is challenging and requires introducing nontrivial auxiliary gauge fields e...

We present a universal democratic Lagrangian for the bosonic sector of ten-dimensional type II supergravities, treating “electric” and “magnetic” potentials of all Ramond-Ramond (RR) fields on equal footing. For type IIB, this includes the five-form whose self-duality equation is derived from the Lagrangian. We also present an alternative form of t...

A bstract We study solutions in non-linear electrodynamics (NED) and establish several general results. We show, that the SO(2) electric-magnetic duality symmetry is restrictive enough to allow for reconstruction of the NED Lagrangian from the spherically-symmetric electrostatic (Coulomb-like) solution — although there are infinitely many different...

A bstract In our previous article Phys. Rev. Lett. 127 (2021) 271601, we announced a novel ‘democratic’ Lagrangian formulation of general nonlinear electrodynamics in four dimensions that features electric and magnetic potentials on equal footing. Here, we give an expanded and more detailed account of this new formalism, and then proceed to push it...

We briefly review and critically compare three approaches to constructing Lagrangian theories of self-interacting Abelian chiral form fields with manifest Lorentz invariance. The first approach relies on the original ideas of Pasti, Sorokin and Tonin (PST) and has been explored since late 1990s. The second approach was introduced by Ashoke Sen in 2...

We present a universal democratic Lagrangian for the bosonic sector of ten-dimensional type II supergravities, treating "electric" and "magnetic" potentials of all RR fields on equal footing. For type IIB, this includes the five-form whose self-duality equation is derived from the Lagrangian. We also present an alternative form of the action for ty...

We study solutions in non-linear electrodynamics (NED) and establish several general results. We show, that the $SO(2)$ electric-magnetic duality symmetry is restrictive enough to allow for reconstruction of the NED Lagrangian from the spherically-symmetric electrostatic (Coulomb-like) solution -- although there are infinitely many different NED th...

In our previous article Phys. Rev. Lett. 127 (2021) 271601, we announced a novel 'democratic' Lagrangian formulation of general nonlinear electrodynamics in four dimensions that features electric and magnetic potentials on equal footing. Here, we give an expanded and more detailed account of this new formalism, and then proceed to push it significa...

We construct a Lagrangian for general nonlinear electrodynamics that features electric and magnetic potentials on equal footing. In the language of this Lagrangian, discrete and continuous electric-magnetic duality symmetries can be straightforwardly imposed, leading to a simple formulation for theories with the SO(2) duality invariance. When speci...

We construct a Lagrangian for general nonlinear electrodynamics that features electric and magnetic potentials on equal footing. In the language of this Lagrangian, discrete and continuous electric-magnetic duality symmetries can be straightforwardly imposed, leading to a simple formulation for theories with the $SO(2)$ duality invariance. When spe...

A bstract We construct a generalisation of the three-dimensional Poincaré algebra that also includes a colour symmetry factor. This algebra can be used to define coloured Poincaré gravity in three space-time dimensions as well as to study generalisations of massive and massless free particle models. We present various such generalised particle mode...

We construct a generalisation of the three-dimensional Poincar\'e algebra that also includes a colour symmetry factor. This algebra can be used to define coloured Poincar\'e gravity in three space-time dimensions as well as to study generalisations of massive and massless free particle models. We present various such generalised particle models tha...

We explore the properties of polynomial Lagrangians for chiral p -forms previously proposed by the last named author, and in particular, provide a self-contained treatment of the symmetries and equations of motion that shows a great economy and simplicity of this formalism. We further use analogous techniques to construct polynomial democratic Lagr...

We explore the properties of polynomial Lagrangians for chiral $p$-forms previously proposed by the last named author, and in particular, provide a self-contained treatment of the symmetries and equations of motion that shows a great economy and simplicity of this formalism. We further use analogous techniques to construct polynomial democratic Lag...

We study the problem of interacting theories with partially-massless and conformal higher spin fields without matter in three dimensions. A new class of theories that have partially-massless fields is found, which significantly extends the well-known class of purely massless theories. More generally, it is proved that the complete theory has to hav...

A bstract We study general aspects of the reductive dual pair correspondence, also known as Howe duality. We make an explicit and systematic treatment, where we first derive the oscillator realizations of all irreducible dual pairs: ( GL ( M, ℝ) , GL ( N, ℝ)), ( GL ( M, ℂ) , GL ( N, ℂ)), ( U ∗ (2 M ) , U ∗ (2 N )), ( U ( M + , M − ) , U ( N + , N −...

We study general aspects of the reductive dual pair correspondence, also known as Howe duality. We make an explicit and systematic treatment, where we first derive the oscillator realizations of all irreducible dual pairs: $(GL(M,\mathbb R), GL(N,\mathbb R))$, $(GL(M,\mathbb C), GL(N,\mathbb C))$, $(U^*(2M), U^*(2N))$, $(U(M_+,M_-), U(N_+,N_-))$, $...

We give a simple classification of the independent n-point interaction vertices for bosonic higher-spin gauge fields in d-dimensional Minkowski spacetimes. We first give a characterisation of such vertices for large dimensions, d ≥ 2n − 1, where one does not have to consider Schouten identities due to over-antisymmetrisation of spacetime indices. W...

We study the problem of interacting theories with (partially)-massless and conformal higher spin fields without matter in three dimensions. A new class of theories that have partially-massless fields is found, which significantly extends the well-known class of purely massless theories. More generally, it is proved that the complete theory has to h...

We give a simple classification of the independent $n$-point interaction vertices for bosonic higher-spin gauge fields in $d$-dimensional Minkowski space-times. We first give a characterisation of such vertices for large dimensions, $d \geq 2n - 1$, where one does not have to consider Schouten identities due to over-antisymmetrisation of space-time...

A bstract We construct a Lorentz and generally covariant, polynomial action for free chiral p -forms, classically equivalent to the Pasti-Sorokin-Tonin (PST) formulation. The minimal set up requires introducing an auxiliary p -form on top of the physical gauge p -form and the PST scalar. The action enjoys multiple duality symmetries, including thos...

We analyze the constraints imposed by gauge invariance on higher-order interactions between massless bosonic fields in three-dimensional higher-spin gravities. Focusing on the transverse-traceless part, we show that vertices of quartic and higher order that are independent of the cubic ones can only involve scalars and Maxwell fields. As a conseque...

In the context of higher-spin holography, we compare the classification of cubic interaction vertices for higher-spin gravity theories in three dimensions to the possible three-point correlation functions of conserved higher-spin currents in two-dimensional conformal field theories. In both cases, the allowed structures are governed by triangle ine...

We construct a Lorentz covariant, polynomial action for free chiral $p-$forms, classically equivalent to the Pasti-Sorokin-Tonin (PST) formulation. The minimal set up requires introducing an auxiliary $p-$form on top of the physical gauge $p-$form and the PST scalar. The action enjoys duality symmetries which exchange the roles of physical and auxi...

A bstract We study the possibility for a unitary theory of partially-massless (PM) spin-two field interacting with Gravity in arbitrary dimensions. We show that the gauge and parity invariant interaction of PM spin two particles requires the inclusion of specific massive spin-two fields and leads to a reconstruction of Conformal Gravity, or multipl...

We analyse the constraints imposed by gauge invariance on higher-order interactions between massless bosonic fields in three-dimensional higher-spin gravities. We show that vertices of quartic and higher order that are independent of the cubic ones can only involve scalars and Maxwell fields. As a consequence, the full non-linear interactions of ma...

We study the possibility for a unitary theory of partially-massless (PM) spin-two field interacting with Gravity in arbitrary dimensions. We show that the gauge and parity invariant interaction of PM spin two particles requires the inclusion of specific massive spin-two fields and leads to a reconstruction of Conformal Gravity, or multiple copies o...

In the context of higher-spin holography, we compare the classification of cubic interaction vertices for higher-spin gravity theories in three dimensions to the possible three-point correlation functions of conserved higher-spin currents in two-dimensional conformal field theories. In both cases, the allowed structures are governed by triangle ine...

This work completes the classification of the cubic vertices for arbitrary spin massless bosons in three dimensions started in a previous companion paper by constructing parity-odd vertices. Similarly to the parity-even case, there is a unique parity-odd vertex for any given triple $s_1\geq s_2\geq s_3\geq 2$ of massless bosons if the triangle ineq...

Parity-even cubic vertices of massless bosons of arbitrary spins in three dimensional Minkowski space are classified in the metric-like formulation. As opposed to higher dimensions, there is at most one vertex for any given triple $s_1,s_2,s_3$ in three dimensions. All the vertices with more than three derivatives are of the type $(s,0,0)$, $(s,1,1...

We study the cubic vertices for Maxwell-like higher-spins in flat space. Reducibility of their free spectra implies that a single cubic vertex involving any three fields subsumes a number of couplings among different particles of various spins. The resulting vertices do not involve traces of the fields and in this sense are simpler than their Frons...

We make an explicit link between the cubic interactions of off-shell fields and the on-shell three-point amplitudes in four dimensions. Both the cubic interactions and the on-shell three-point amplitudes had been independently classified in the literature, but their relation has not been made explicit. The aim of this note is to provide such a rela...

We investigate the four-derivative free Weyl action for two-column mixed-symmetry field that makes use of maximal gauge symmetries. In flat space, the action can be uniquely determined from gauge and Weyl (trace shift) symmetry requirements. We show that there is a smooth and unique deformation of the flat action to (A)dS which keeps the same amoun...

We study the color-decoration of higher-spin (anti)-de Sitter gravity in three dimensions. We show that the rainbow vacua, which we found recently for the colored gravity theory, also pertain in the colored higher-spin theory. The color singlet spin-two plays the role of first fundamental form (metric). The difference is that when spontaneous break...

We propose a theory of three-dimensional (anti) de Sitter gravity carrying Chan-Paton color charges. We define the theory by Chern-Simons formulation with the gauge algebra (𝔤𝔩2⊕𝔤𝔩2)⊗𝔲(N), obtaining a color-decorated version of interacting spin-one and spin-two fields. We also describe the theory in metric formulation and show that, among N2 massle...

We study the color-decoration of higher-spin (anti)-de Sitter gravity in three dimensions. We show that the rainbow vacua, which we found recently for the colored gravity theory, also pertain in the colored higher-spin theory. The color singlet spin-two plays the role of first fundamental form (metric). The difference is that when spontaneous break...

We study the color-decoration of higher spin (anti)-de Sitter gravity in three dimensions. We show that the rainbow vacua, which we found recently for the colored gravity theory, also exist in the colored higher spin theory. The color singlet spin-two plays the role of metric. The difference is that when spontaneous breaking of color symmetry takes...

We propose a theory of three-dimensional (anti) de Sitter gravity carrying Chan-Paton color charges. We define the theory by Chern-Simons formulation with the gauge algebra (gl(2) + gl(2)) times u(N), obtaining a color-decorated version of interacting spin-one and spin-two fields. We also describe the theory in metric formulation and show that, amo...

The global symmetry algebras of partially-massless (PM) higher-spin (HS) fields in (A)dS$_{d+1}$ are studied. The algebras involving PM generators up to depth $2\,(\ell-1)$ are defined as the maximal symmetries of free conformal scalar field with $2\,\ell$ order wave equation in $d$ dimensions. We review the construction of these algebras by quotie...

The higher-spin (HS) algebras so far known can be interpreted as the symmetries of the minimal representation of the isometry algebra. After discussing this connection briefly, we generalize this concept to any classical Lie algebras and consider the corresponding HS algebras. For sp(2N) and so(N), the minimal representations are unique so we get u...

A special embedding of the SU(4) algebra in SU(10), including both spin two and spin three symmetry generators, is constructed. A possible five dimensional action for massless spin two and three fields with cubic interaction is constructed. The connection with the previously investigated higher spin theories in $AdS_{5}$ background is discussed. Ge...

A procedure to obtain higher-derivative free massive actions is proposed. It consists in dimensional reduction of conventional two-derivative massless actions, where solutions to constraints bring in higher derivatives. We apply this procedure to derive the arbitrary dimensional generalizations of (linearized) New Massive Gravity and New Topologica...

Higher-derivative theories of free higher-spin fields are investigated focusing on their symmetries. Generalizing familiar two-derivative constrained formulations, we first construct less-constrained Einstein-like and Maxwell-like higher-derivative actions. Then, we construct Weyl-like actions - the actions admitting constrained Weyl symmetries - w...

The explicit form of linearized gauge arid generalized “Weyl invariant” interactions of scalar and general higher even spin fields in the AdS D space constructed in [1] is reviewed. Also a linearized interaction of vector field with general higher even spin, gauge field is obtained. It is shown that the gauge invariant action of linearized vector...

Using Noether's procedure we directly construct a complete cubic selfinteraction for the case of spin s=4 in a flat background and discuss the cubic selfinteraction for general spin s with s derivatives in the same background. The leading term of the latter interaction together with the leading gauge transformation of first field order are presente...

We present the first nonlinear term of the higher spin curvature which is covariant with respect to deformed gauge transformations that are linear in the field. We consider in detail the case of spin 3 after presenting spin 2 as an example, and then construct the general spin s quadratic term of the deWit-Freedman curvature.

We present off-shell generating functions for all cubic interactions of totally symmetric massless Higher Spin gauge fields and discuss their properties.

This thesis includes several original results. All of them are already published or submitted for publication. I present here the short summary of main results: The ultraviolet singular structure of the bulk-to-bulk propagators for higher spin gauge fields in AdS4 space is analyzed in details. One loop mass renormalization is studied on a simple ex...

We present an off-shell generating function for all cubic interactions of Higher Spin gauge fields constructed in arXiv:1003.2877. It is a generalization of the on-shell generating function proposed in arXiv:1006.5242, is written in a very compact way, and turns out to have a remarkable structure.

Using Noether's procedure we present a complete solution for the trilinear interactions of arbitrary spins s1, s2, s3 in a flat background, and discuss the possibility to enlarge this construction to higher order interactions in the gauge field. Some classification theorems of the cubic (self)interaction with different numbers of derivatives and de...

Several trilinear interactions of higher spin fields involving two equal (s=s1=s2) and one higher even (s3⩾2s) spin are presented. Interactions are constructed on the Lagrangian level using Noether's procedure together with the corresponding next to free level fields of the gauge transformations. In certain cases when the number of derivatives in t...

The explicit form of linearized gauge invariant interactions of scalar and general higher even spin fields in the $AdS_{D}$ space is obtained. In the case of general spin $\ell$ a generalized 'Weyl' transformation is proposed and the corresponding 'Weyl' invariant action is constructed. In both cases the invariant actions of the interacting higher...

The ultraviolet singular structure of the bulk-to-bulk propagators for higher spin gauge fields in AdS4 space is analyzed in details. Possible interactions with the Higgs scalar and the corresponding one loop mass renormalization are studied. This mass renormalization is finite and connected with the anomalous dimensions of those currents in the co...

The hierarchy of conformally invariant k-th powers of the Laplacian acting on a scalar field with scaling dimensions $\Delta_{(k)}=k-d/2$, k=1,2,3 as obtained in the recent work [1] is rederived using the Fefferman-Graham d+2 dimensional ambient space approach. The corresponding mysterious "holographic" structure of these operators is clarified. We...