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arXiv · 1107.3157

On ghosts in theories of self-interacting massive spin-2 particles

Sarah Folkerts·Alexander Pritzel·Nico Wintergerst
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Abstract

We consider general theories of a massive spin-2 particle $h_{\mu\nu}$ on a Minkowski background. A decomposition of $h_{\mu\nu}$ in terms of helicity eigenstates allows us to directly test whether any given theory possesses a consistent description as a massive spin-2 representation of the Poincar\'e group. We demonstrate (i) that any nonlinear theory with an Einsteinian derivative structure either contains ghosts or does not describe a weakly coupled spin-2 and (ii) that there exists a two-parameter family of non-Einsteinian cubic self-interactions which constitute a ghost-free massive spin-2 theory.

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Sarah Folkerts, Alexander Pritzel, Nico Wintergerst. 2011-07-15. On ghosts in theories of self-interacting massive spin-2 particles. https://arxiv.org/abs/1107.3157

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