# Formal Higher-Spin Theories and Kontsevich-Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality

## TL;DR

This paper explores the algebraic structures underlying higher-spin theories, linking them to an extension of the Kontsevich Formality, and constructs equations for higher-spin interactions and propagation.

## Contribution

It establishes a connection between higher-spin theory formality and Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality, enabling the construction of interaction vertices and propagation equations.

## Key findings

- Constructed Hochschild cocycles for higher-spin algebras.
- Developed Vasiliev-like equations with $sp(2n)$ symmetry.
- Identified geometric interpretation via Alexander-Spanier cocycle.

## Abstract

The formal algebraic structures that govern higher-spin theories within the unfolded approach turn out to be related to an extension of the Kontsevich Formality, namely, the Shoikhet-Tsygan Formality. Effectively, this allows one to construct the Hochschild cocycles of higher-spin algebras that make the interaction vertices. As an application of these results we construct a family of Vasiliev-like equations that generate the Hochschild cocycles with $sp(2n)$ symmetry from the corresponding cycles. A particular case of $sp(4)$ may be relevant for the on-shell action of the $4d$ theory. We also give the exact equations that describe propagation of higher-spin fields on a background of their own. The consistency of formal higher-spin theories turns out to have a purely geometric interpretation: there exists a certain symplectic invariant associated to cutting a polytope into simplices, namely, the Alexander-Spanier cocycle.