A Stringy theory in three dimensions and Massive Higher Spins

TL;DR

This paper constructs a consistent three-dimensional flat space theory with massive higher spin fields, exhibiting string-like features and potential implications for quantum gravity resolution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel three-dimensional massive higher spin theory with stringy properties, including unbounded spectrum and vanishing higher amplitudes, in light-cone gauge.

Findings

Spectrum is unbounded in spin and mass

Quartic and higher tree-level amplitudes vanish

Softens UV behavior at loop level

Abstract

An example of a consistent theory with massive higher spin fields is constructed in flat space-time of dimension three. The action is written in the light-cone gauge. The theory has certain stringy features, e.g. its spectrum is unbounded in spin and mass, the theory admits Chan-Paton factors. The quartic and the higher tree-level amplitudes vanish, which softens the UV behaviour at the loop level and provides a new mechanism of how massive higher spin states can resolve the Quantum Gravity Problem.