Stress and Strain: T^{\mu\nu} of Higher Spin Gauge Fields

Abstract

We present some results concerning local currents, particularly the stress tensors T^{\mu\nu}, of free higher (>1) spin gauge fields. While the T^{\mu\nu} are known to be gauge variant, we can express them, at the cost of manifest Lorentz invariance, solely in terms of (spatially nonlocal) gauge-invariant field components, where the "scalar" and "spin" aspects of the systems can be clearly separated. Using the fundamental commutators of these transverse-traceless variables we verify the Poincare algebra among its generators, constructed from the T^0_\mu and their moments. The relevance to the interaction difficulties of higher spin systems is mentioned.