{"arxiv_id":"1808.04320","title":"On the structure of the conformal higher-spin wave operators","abstract":"We study conformal higher spin (CHS) fields on constant curvature backgrounds. By employing parent formulation technique in combination with tractor description of GJMS operators we find a manifestly factorized form of the CHS wave operators for symmetric fields of arbitrary integer spin $s$ and gauge invariance of arbitrary order $t\\leq s$. In the case of the usual Fradkin-Tseytlin fields $t=1$ this gives a systematic derivation of the factorization formulas known in the literature while for $t>1$ the explicit formulas were not known. We also relate the gauge invariance of the CHS fields to the partially-fixed gauge invariance of the factors and show that the factors can be identified with (partially gauge-fixed) wave operators for (partially)-massless or special massive fields. As a byproduct, we establish a detailed relationship with the tractor approach and, in particular, derive the tractor form of the CHS equations and gauge symmetries.","primary_cat":"hep-th","cross_cats":["math-ph","math.MP"],"submitted_at":"2018-08-13T16:24:30+00:00","latest_version":1,"source":"arxiv","source_label":"arXiv","source_url":null,"has_pdf":true,"has_source":false,"verdict":null,"confidence":null,"one_line_summary":null,"novelty_score":null,"correctness_risk":null,"formal_verification":null,"upvotes":0,"downvotes":0,"pith_score":0.0,"inbound_count":2,"_links":{"html":"https://pith.science/paper/1808.04320","verdict":"/api/v1/verdicts/1808.04320"}}