On massive spin-3/2 in the Fradkin–Vasiliev formalism

Abstract

One of the possible approaches to the construction of massive higher spin interactions is to use their gauge invariant description based on the introduction of the appropriate set of Stueckelberg fields. Recently, the general properties of such approach were investigated by Boulanger et al (2018 J. High Energy Phys. JHEP07(2018)021). The main findings of this work can be formulated in two statements. At first, there always exist enough field redefinitions to bring the vertex into abelian form where there are some corrections to the gauge transformations but the gauge algebra is undeformed. At second, with the further (as a rule higher derivative) field redefinitions one can bring the vertex into trivially gauge invariant form expressed in terms of the gauge invariant objects of the free theory. Our aim in this work is to show (using a simple example) how these general properties are realised in the so-called Fradkin–Vasiliev formalism and to see the effects (if any) that the presence of massless field, and hence of some unbroken gauge symmetries, can produce. As such example we take the gravitational interaction for massive spin-3/2 field so we complete the investigation started by Buchbinder et al (2014 Eur. Phys. J. C 74 3153) relaxing all restrictions on the number of derivatives and allowed field redefinitions. We show that in spite of the presence of massless spin-2 field, the first statement is still valid, while there exist two abelian vertices which are not equivalent on-shell to the trivially gauge invariant ones. Moreover, it is one of this abelian vertices that reproduce the minimal interaction for massive spin-3/2.