Unfolding Conformal Geometry

Abstract

Conformal geometry is studied using the unfolded formulation \`a la Vasiliev. Analyzing the first-order consistency of the unfolded equations, we identify the content of zero-forms as the spin-two off-shell Fradkin-Tseytlin module of $\mathfrak{so}(2,d)$. We sketch the nonlinear structure of the equations and explain how Weyl invariant densities, which Type-B Weyl anomaly consist of, could be systematically computed within the unfolded formulation. The unfolded equation for conformal geometry is also shown to be reduced to various on-shell gravitational systems by requiring additional algebraic constraints.