Abstract
We evaluate one-loop partition functions of higher-spin fields in thermal flat space with angular potentials; this computation is performed in arbitrary space-time dimension, and the result is a simple combination of Poincaré characters. We then focus on dimension three, showing that suitable products of one-loop partition functions coincide with vacuum characters of higher-spin asymptotic symmetry algebras at null infinity. These are extensions of the bms3 algebra that emerges in pure gravity, and we propose a way to build their unitary representations and to compute the associated characters. We also extend our investigations to supergravity and to a class of gauge theories involving higher-spin fermionic fields.
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ArXiv ePrint: 1512.03353
Postdoctoral Researcher of the Fund for Scientific Research-FNRS Belgium. (A. Campoleoni)
Research fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research-FNRS Belgium. (B. Oblak)
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Campoleoni, A., Gonzalez, H.A., Oblak, B. et al. Rotating higher spin partition functions and extended BMS symmetries. J. High Energ. Phys. 2016, 34 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2016)034
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP04(2016)034