Higher spin theories

Dario Francia, Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa

In these lecture we shall provide an introduction to the basics of higher-spin theory. We shall start with the general structure of the free theory (metric-like and frame-like approaches in flat and (A)dS bkg, for symmetric and mixed-symmetry fields) to then move to illustrate the main difficulties met at the interaction level. In the second part of the course we shall deal with positive results about higher-spin non-linear theories, including the construction of cubic vertices and Vasiliev's equations. The idea is to provide an introduction to the essential language and techniques used in the literature, to highlight some technical steps in a concrete way and to indicate a few open directions.

Approx 6 hours lecture (tba).