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Title: Eikonal scattering and asymptotic superluminality of massless higher spin fields

Abstract

We consider scattering of massless higher-spin particles in the eikonal regime in four dimensions. By demanding the absence of asymptotic superluminality, corresponding to positivity of the eikonal phase, we place constraints on the possible cubic couplings which can appear in the theory. The cubic couplings come in two types: lower-derivative non-Abelian vertices and higher-derivative Abelian vertices made out of gauge-invariant curvature tensors. We find that the Abelian couplings between massless higher spins lead to an asymptotic time advance for certain choices of polarizations, indicating that these couplings should be absent unless new states come in at the scale suppressing the derivatives in these couplings. A subset of non-Abelian cubic couplings are consistent with eikonal positivity, but are ruled out by consistency of the four-particle amplitude away from the eikonal limit. The eikonal constraints are, therefore, complementary to the four-particle test, ruling out even trivial cubic curvature couplings in any theory with a finite number of massless higher spins and no new physics at the scale suppressing derivatives in these vertices.

Authors:
; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); Simons Foundation; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
OSTI Identifier:
1457821
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1503892
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0011941; NNX16AB27G
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Physical Review D
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Physical Review D Journal Volume: 97 Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Citation Formats

Hinterbichler, Kurt, Joyce, Austin, and Rosen, Rachel A. Eikonal scattering and asymptotic superluminality of massless higher spin fields. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.97.125019.
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Hinterbichler, Kurt, Joyce, Austin, & Rosen, Rachel A. Eikonal scattering and asymptotic superluminality of massless higher spin fields. United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.125019
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Hinterbichler, Kurt, Joyce, Austin, and Rosen, Rachel A. Fri . "Eikonal scattering and asymptotic superluminality of massless higher spin fields". United States. doi:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.125019.
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@article{osti_1457821,
title = {Eikonal scattering and asymptotic superluminality of massless higher spin fields},
author = {Hinterbichler, Kurt and Joyce, Austin and Rosen, Rachel A.},
abstractNote = {We consider scattering of massless higher-spin particles in the eikonal regime in four dimensions. By demanding the absence of asymptotic superluminality, corresponding to positivity of the eikonal phase, we place constraints on the possible cubic couplings which can appear in the theory. The cubic couplings come in two types: lower-derivative non-Abelian vertices and higher-derivative Abelian vertices made out of gauge-invariant curvature tensors. We find that the Abelian couplings between massless higher spins lead to an asymptotic time advance for certain choices of polarizations, indicating that these couplings should be absent unless new states come in at the scale suppressing the derivatives in these couplings. A subset of non-Abelian cubic couplings are consistent with eikonal positivity, but are ruled out by consistency of the four-particle amplitude away from the eikonal limit. The eikonal constraints are, therefore, complementary to the four-particle test, ruling out even trivial cubic curvature couplings in any theory with a finite number of massless higher spins and no new physics at the scale suppressing derivatives in these vertices.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.97.125019},
journal = {Physical Review D},
number = 12,
volume = 97,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {6}
}
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.125019
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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    A bound on massive higher spin particles
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    • Afkhami-Jeddi, Nima; Kundu, Sandipan; Tajdini, Amirhossein
    • Journal of High Energy Physics, Vol. 2019, Issue 4
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    Spin-2 fields and the weak gravity conjecture
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    Bounds on amplitudes in effective theories with massive spinning particles
    journal, August 2018

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