Spin-3/2 and spin-2 charged massive states in a constant electromagnetic background

TL;DR

This paper develops a detailed component-level superspace action for the first massive states of open charged superstrings in a flat spacetime, analyzing their behavior in electromagnetic backgrounds and deriving equations of motion for various spins.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive component formulation of the superspace action for massive open superstring states, including their interactions with electromagnetic backgrounds.

Findings

Retrieves Rarita-Schwinger and Fierz-Pauli Lagrangians in absence of background

Derives equations of motion for charged fields of spins 3/2, 2, 1, and 0 in electromagnetic background

Analyzes propagation of massive charged states in a flat four-dimensional spacetime

Abstract

We develop in components the superspace action obtained in arXiv:2110.07623 describing the first massive level of the open charged superstring in a flat four-dimensional spacetime. In the absence of an electromagnetic background, we show how the Rarita-Schwinger and Fierz-Pauli Lagrangians are retrieved for spin-3/2 and 2, respectively. We then write different forms of the action in the presence of the electromagnetic background. The resulting equations of motion describe the propagation of fields of charged spin-3/2 and spin-1/2 on the one hand, and spin-2, 1 and 0 on the other.