Gravitational- and Self- Coupling of Partially Massless Spin 2

Abstract

We show that higher spin systems specific to cosmological spaces are subject to the same problems as models with Poincar'e limits. In particular, we analyse partially massless (PM) spin 2 and find that both its gravitational coupling and nonlinear extensions suffer from the usual [background- and self-coupling] difficulties: Consistent free field propagation does not extend beyond background Einstein geometries. Then, using conformal Weyl gravity (CG), which consists of relative ghost PM and graviton excitations, we find that avoiding graviton-ghosts restricts CG-generated PM self-couplings to the usual, safe, Noether current cubic ones.

10 pages, LaTeX. Announcement version of 1208.1307 emphasizing physical over mathematical details.