(14.01.) Partially Massless Spin-2 Fields
Angnis Schmidt-May (ETH Zurich)
14.01.2016 at 16:15
The Standard Model of particle physics contains massless and massive fields with spin 0, 1/2 and 1, whereas gravity is associated to the presence of a massless spin-2 field. It is an interesting question whether also massive spin-2 fields could be realised in Nature. Their theoretical description turns out to be surprisingly difficult and consistent theories were not known until a few years ago. In this talk, I will discuss a further interesting feature of spin-2 fields: They can occur in representations that are neither massless nor massive. Such "partially massless gravitons" could potentially be relevant for quantum gravity or help in solving the cosmological constant problem. I will give a basic introduction to partially massless spin-2 modes in de Sitter backgrounds and then outline a possibility of realising partial masslessness in a nonlinear theory.
Arnold Sommerfeld Center
Theresienstrasse 37
Room 348