A Higgs Mechanism for Gravity. Part II: Higher Spin Connections

TL;DR

This paper extends a model of gravity as a Goldstone phenomenon of broken diffeomorphisms, introducing higher-spin connections and predicting modifications at high energies due to massive higher-spin particles.

Contribution

It completes the coset space analysis for diffeomorphisms, incorporating an infinite tower of higher-spin connections and exploring their role in gravity's symmetry breaking.

Findings

Gravity is modified at high energies by massive higher-spin exchanges.

The coset space includes an infinite set of higher-spin-like connections.

Effective actions for symmetry breaking give mass to these higher-spin connections.

Abstract

We continue the work of hep-th/0503024 in which gravity is considered as the Goldstone realization of a spontaneously broken diffeomorphism group. We complete the discussion of the coset space Diff(d,R)/SO(1,d-1) formed by the d-dimensional group of analytic diffeomorphisms and the Lorentz group. We find that this coset space is parameterized by coordinates, a metric and an infinite tower of higher-spin-like or generalized connections. We then study effective actions for the corresponding symmetry breaking which gives mass to the higher spin connections. Our model predicts that gravity is modified at high energies by the exchange of massive higher spin particles.