Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de la physique mathématique des interactions fondamentales. Elle porte sur l'étude des théories de champs qui décrivent les particules élémentaires. En particulier, les théories de champs de spin élevé (plus grand ou égal à 2) sont analysées. Mis à part pour le graviton, vecteur supposé des interactions gravitationnelles, il n'y a aucun indice que ces champs soient présents dans la nature. Cependant leur existence n'est pas impossible théoriquemement et ils interviennent dans la théorie des cordes, candidate pour une théorie quantique d'unification de toutes les forces fondamentales y compris la gravitation. En effet, les modes de vibration de la corde élémentaire sont décrits par des champs de spin élevé.   Dans ce travail, la dimension de l'espace-temps est laissée arbitraire, ce qui entraine la possibilité d'avoir plusieurs sortes (= représentations) de champs différentes ayant le même spin. Le premier aspect traité dans cette thèse concerne les dualités, symétries qui relient entre elles plusieurs théories. Il est montré que différentes représentations de champs de spin élevé sont duales au niveau de l'action. En particulier, en dimension quatre, la dualité échange la composante électrique et la composante magnétique d'un même champs. Cette propriété est ensuite utilisée pour introduire des sources magnétiques pour les champs de spin élevé. La construction généralise les travaux de Dirac sur le couplage au champ électromagnétique de monopoles magnétiques. Une condition de quantification est également dérivée pour des quantités conservées, qui généralise la condition de quantification de Dirac pour la charge électrique en présence de monopoles magnétiques. La deuxième partie de la thèse est consacrée aux interactions de champs de spin élevé. L'analyse est effectuée dans le formalisme de champs et d'antichamps dévelopé par Batalin et Vilkovsky. Elle repose sur la procédure de déformation de l'équation maîtresse mise au point par Henneaux et Barnich. Les champs étudiés sont les champs de spin deux exotiques (c-à-d différents du graviton) ainsi que les champs de spin trois complètement symétriques. Pour les premiers, il est prouvé que toutes les interactions doivent être abélienne. Il n'y a donc pas d'équivalent de la théorie d'Einstein pour ces champs. Dans le cas des champs de spin trois, plusieurs vertex cohérents au premier ordre sont obtenus. <br> In this thesis, we consider two aspects of higher-spin gauge field theories: dualities and interactions. The first aspect is related to the presence of dualities, i.e., 'hidden' symmetries among gauge field theories. Do two higher-spin theories corresponding to different irreducible representations of the Poincaré group have the same physical content. Duality relations were already known at the level of the equations of motion and Bianchi identities, here we prove (in some cases) that these dualities hold also at the level of the action. As a consequence, the dual theories are formally equivalent. For example, in five space-time dimensions the spin-two theory of Pauli and Fierz is dual to the theory of a mixed-symmetry spin-two field written by Curtright. In four space-time dimensions the duality exchanges the electric and magnetic degrees of freedom of the field. This property leads us to introduce external magnetic sources for higher-spin fields, thereby generalizing to arbitrary spin the work of Dirac on the coupling of magnetic monopoles to the electromagnetic field. Similarly to the quantization condition on the product of the electric and magnetic charges for electromagnetism, there is a quantization condition on the product of conserved ``electric' and ``magnetic' charges for higher spins. The second aspect of higher-spin gauge field theories that is analysed in this thesis is the problem of interactions. Self-interactions of exotic spin-two gauge fields are studied, as well as self-interactions of completely symmetric spin-three fields. This is done in the BRST field-antifield formalism developped by Batalin and Vilkovisky, using the technique of consistent deformations of the master equation proposed by Barnich and Henneaux.

The initial chapter of the thesis provides a review of Weinberg’s formalism for the derivation of quantum fields. The formalism is extended to allow for the derivation of quantum fields with more than one spin degree of freedom. It is conjectured that it may be possible to construct massive bosonic quantum field theories of any desired spin j that are consistent and unitary at all energies without the need for regulator terms by including j + 1 spin degrees of freedom: j, j - 1, down to j - j. The concept is then demonstrated in two subsequent chapters by the derivation of a quantum field with spin one and spin zero degrees of freedom followed the derivation of a quantum field with spin two, spin one, and spin zero degrees of freedom. Both field theories are found to be consistent and unitary at all energies without the need for regulator terms. The final two chapters are on unrelated topics. The penultimate chapter provides an explicit derivation of quantum fields for massless particles of spin one-half. In the final chapter, a derivation of the free-space Proca and Maxwell equations is provided via a consistent identification of the linear combinations of the classical fields of the (1,0) and (0,1) representations of the orthochronous Lorentz group.

This dissertation consist of three parts. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the study of gravity and higher spin gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions. We construct cosmological so-lutions of higher spin gravity in 2+1 dimensional de Sitter space. We show that a consistent thermodynamics can be obtained for their horizons by demanding appropriate holonomy conditions. This is equivalent to demanding the integrability of the Euclidean boundary CFT partition function, and reduces to Gibbons-Hawking thermodynamics in the spin-2 case. By using a prescription of Maldacena, we relate the thermodynamics of these solutions to those of higher spin black holes in AdS3. For the case of negative cosmological constant we show that interpreting the inverse AdS3 radius 1=l as a Grassmann variable results in a formal map from gravity in AdS3 to gravity in flat space. The underlying reason for this is the fact that ISO(2,1) is the Inonu-Wigner contraction of SO(2,2). We show how this works for the Chern-Simons actions, demonstrate how the general (Banados) solution in AdS3 maps to the general flat space solution, and how the Killing vectors, charges and the Virasoro algebra in the Brown-Henneaux case map to the corresponding quantities in the BMS3 case. Our results straightforwardly generalize to the higher spin case: the flat space higher spin theories emerge automatically in this approach from their AdS counterparts. We also demonstrate the power of our approach by doing singularity resolution in the BMS gauge as an application. Finally, we construct a candidate for the most general chiral higher spin theory with AdS3 boundary conditions. In the Chern-Simons language, the left-moving solution has Drinfeld-Sokolov reduced form, but on the right-moving solution all charges and chemical potentials are turned on. Altogether (for the spin-3 case) these are 19 functions. Despite this, we show that the resulting metric has the form of the “most general” AdS3 boundary conditions discussed by Grumiller and Riegler. The asymptotic symmetry algebra is a product of a W3 algebra on the left and an affine sl(3)k current algebra on the right, as desired. The metric and higher spin fields depend on all the 19 functions. The second part is devoted to the problem of Neumann boundary condition in Einstein’s gravity. The Gibbons-Hawking-York (GHY) boundary term makes the Dirichlet problem for gravity well defined, but no such general term seems to be known for Neumann boundary conditions. In our work, we view Neumann boundary condition not as fixing the normal derivative of the metric (“velocity”) at the boundary, but as fixing the functional derivative of the action with respect to the boundary metric (“momentum”). This leads directly to a new boundary term for gravity: the trace of the extrinsic curvature with a specific dimension-dependent coefficient. In three dimensions this boundary term reduces to a “one-half” GHY term noted in the literature previously, and we observe that our action translates precisely to the Chern-Simons action with no extra boundary terms. In four dimensions the boundary term vanishes, giving a natural Neumann interpretation to the standard Einstein-Hilbert action without boundary terms. We also argue that a natural boundary condition for gravity in asymptotically AdS spaces is to hold the renormalized boundary stress tensor density fixed, instead of the boundary metric. This leads to a well-defined variational problem, as well as new counter-terms and a finite on-shell action. We elaborate this in various (even and odd) dimensions in the language of holographic renormalization. Even though the form of the new renormalized action is distinct from the standard one, once the cut-off is taken to infinity, their values on classical solutions coincide when the trace anomaly vanishes. For AdS4, we compute the ADM form of this renormalized action and show in detail how the correct thermodynamics of Kerr-AdS black holes emerge. We comment on the possibility of a consistent quantization with our boundary conditions when the boundary is dynamical, and make a connection to the results of Compere and Marolf. The difference between our approach and microcanonical-like ensembles in standard AdS/CFT is emphasized. In the third part of the dissertation, we use the recently developed CFT techniques of Rychkov and Tan to compute anomalous dimensions in the O(N) Gross-Neveu model in d = 2 + dimensions. To do this, we extend the “cow-pie contraction” algorithm of Basu and Krishnan to theories with fermions. Our results match perfectly with Feynman diagram computations.

The idea of holography [1, 2] finds a concrete realization in form of the AdS/CFT correspondence [3, 4]. This duality relates a field theory with conformal symmetries to quantum gravity living in one higher dimension. In this thesis we study aspects of black hole quasinormal modes, higher spin theories and entanglement entropy in the context of this duality. In almost all cases we have been able to subject the duality to some precision tests. Quasinormal modes encode the spectrum of black holes and the time-scale of pertur- bations therein [5]. From the dual CFT viewpoint they are the poles of retarded Green's function (or peaks in the spectral function) [6]. Quasinormal modes were previously studied for scalar, gauge field and fermion fluctuations [7]. We solve for these quasinormal modes of higher spin (s _ 2) fields in the background of the BTZ black hole [8, 9]. We obtain an exact solution for a field of arbitrary spin s (integer or half-integer) in the BTZ background. This implies that the BTZ is perhaps the only known black hole background where such an analysis can be done analytically for all bosonic and fermionic fields. The quasinormal modes are shown to match precisely with the poles of the corresponding Green's function in the CFT living on the boundary. Furthermore, we show that one-loop determinants of higher spin fields can also be written as a product form [10] in terms of these quasinormal modes and this agrees with the same obtained by integrating the heat-kernel [11]. We then turn our attention to dualities relating higher-spin gravity to CFTs with W algebra symmetries. Since higher spin gravity does go beyond diffeomorphism invariance, one needs re_ned notions of the usual concepts in differential geometry. For example, in general relativity black holes are defined by the presence of the horizon. However, higher spin gravity has an enlarged group of symmetries of which the diffeomorphisms form a subgroup. The appropriate way of thinking of solutions in higher spin gravity is via characterizations which are gauge invariant [12, 13]. We study classical solutions embedded in N = 2 higher spin supergravity. We obtain a general gauge-invariant condition { in terms of the odd roots of the superalgebra and the eigenvalues of the holonomy matrix of the background { for the existence of a Killing spinor such that these solutions are supersymmetric [14]. We also study black holes in higher spin supergravity and show that the partition function of these black holes match exactly with that obtained from a CFT with the same asymptotic symmetry algebra [15]. This involved studying the asymptotic symmetries of the black hole and thereby developing the holographic dictionary for the bulk charges and chemical potentials with the corresponding quantities of the CFT. We finally investigate entanglement entropy in the AdS3/CFT2 context. Entanglement entropy is an useful non-local probe in QFT and many-body physics [16]. We analytically evaluate the entanglement entropy of the free boson CFT on a circle at finite temperature (i.e. on a torus) [17]. This is one of the simplest and well-studied CFTs. The entanglement entropy is calculated via the replica trick using correlation functions of bosonic twist operators on the torus [18]. We have then set up a systematic high temperature expansion of the Renyi entropies and determined their finite size corrections. These _nite size corrections both for the free boson CFT and the free fermion CFT were then compared with the one-loop corrections obtained from bulk three dimensional handlebody spacetimes which have higher genus Riemann surfaces (replica geometry) as its boundary [19]. One-loop corrections in these geometries are entirely determined by the spectrum of the excitations present in the bulk. It is shown that the leading _nite size corrections obtained by evaluating the one-loop determinants on these handlebody geometries exactly match with those from the free fermion/boson CFTs. This provides a test for holographic methods to calculate one-loop corrections to entanglement entropy. We also study conformal field theories in 1+1 dimensions with W-algebra symmetries at _nite temperature and deformed by a chemical potential (_) for a higher spin current. Using OPEs and uniformization techniques, we show that the order _2 correction to the Renyi and entanglement entropies (EE) of a single interval in the deformed theory is universal [20]. This universal feature is also supported by explicit computations for the free fermion and free boson CFTs { for which the EE was calculated by using the replica trick in conformal perturbation theory by evaluating correlators of twist fields with higher spin operators [21]. Furthermore, this serves as a verification of the holographic EE proposal constructed from Wilson lines in higher spin gravity [22, 23]. We also examine relative entropy [24] in the context of higher-spin holography [25]. Relative entropy is a measure of distinguishability between two quantum states. We confirm the expected short-distance behaviour of relative entropy from holography. This is done by showing that the difference in the modular Hamiltonian between a high-temperature state and the vacuum matches with the difference in the entanglement entropy in the short-subsystem regime.

In this dissertation we explore the features of a Gauge Field Theory formulation for continuous spin particles (CSP). To make our discussion as self-contained as possible, we begin by introducing all the basics of Group Theory - and representation theory - which are necessary to understand where the CSP come from. We then apply what we learn from Group Theory to the study of the Lorentz and Poincaré groups, to the point where we are able to construct the CSP representation. Finally, after a brief review of the Higher-Spin formalism, through the Schwinger-Fronsdal actions, we enter the realm of CSP Field Theory. We study and explore all the local symmetries of the CSP action, as well as all of the nuances associated with the introduction of an enlarged spacetime, which is used to formulate the CSP action. We end our discussion by showing that the physical contents of the CSP action are precisely what we expected them to be, in comparison to our Group Theoretical approach. / Nesta dissertação exploramos as características da formulação de uma Teoria de Gauge para partículas de spin contínuo (CSP). Para tornar a nossa discussão o mais auto-contida possível, começamos por introduzir todas as informações básicas de Teoria de Grupos - assim como de Teoria de Representações - que são necessárias para enteder de onde surgem as CSPs. A partir daí aplicamos o que foi apresentado sobre Teoria de Grupos para o estudo dos grupos de Lorentz e de Poincaré, até o ponto em que conseguimos construir a representação CSP. Finalmente, após uma rápida revisão do formalismo de spin altos (Higher Spins), através do estudo das ações de Schwinger-Fronsdal, damos início ao estudo de uma Teoria de Campos para CSPs. Estudamos e exploramos todas as simetrias locais da ação que descreve uma CSP livre, assim como todas as sutilezas que surgem a partir da introdução de uma nova coordenada, que resulta em um espaço-tempo estendido no qual a ação é definida. Terminamos nossa discussão mostrando que todo o conteúdo físico decorrente da ação para uma CSP livre coincide com o que vimos em nossa discussão de Teoria de Grupos.

This dissertation splits into two distinct halves. The first half is devoted to the study of the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS$_3$. We present a conjecture that the holographic dual of $W_N$ minimal model in a 't Hooft-like large $N$ limit is an unusual ``semi-local" higher spin gauge theory on AdS$_3\times $S$^1$. At each point on the S$^1$ lives a copy of three-dimensional Vasiliev theory, that contains an infinite tower of higher spin gauge fields coupled to a single massive complex scalar propagating in AdS$_3$. The Vasiliev theories at different points on the S$^1$ are correlated only through the AdS$_3$ boundary conditions on the massive scalars. All but one single tower of higher spin symmetries are broken by the boundary conditions. This conjecture is checked by comparing tree-level two- and three-point functions, and also one-loop partition functions on both side of the duality. The second half focuses on the holography of higher spin gauge theory in AdS$_4$. We demonstrate that a supersymmetric and parity violating version of Vasiliev's higher spin gauge theory in AdS$_4$ admits boundary conditions that preserve ${\cal N}=0,1,2,3,4$ or $6$ supersymmetries. In particular, we argue that the Vasiliev theory with $U(M)$ Chan-Paton and ${\cal N}=6$ boundary condition is holographically dual to the 2+1 dimensional $U(N)_k\times U(M)_{-k}$ ABJ theory in the limit of large $N,k$ and finite $M$. In this system all bulk higher spin fields transform in the adjoint of the $U(M)$ gauge group, whose bulk t'Hooft coupling is $\frac{M}{N}$. Our picture suggests that the supersymmetric Vasiliev theory can be obtained as a limit of type IIA string theory in AdS$_4\times \mathbb{CP}^3$, and that the non-Abelian Vasiliev theory at strong bulk 't Hooft coupling smoothly turn into a string field theory. The fundamental string is a singlet bound state of Vasiliev's higher spin particles held together by $U(M)$ gauge interactions. / Physics

In this dissertation we explore the features of a Gauge Field Theory formulation for continuous spin particles (CSP). To make our discussion as self-contained as possible, we begin by introducing all the basics of Group Theory - and representation theory - which are necessary to understand where the CSP come from. We then apply what we learn from Group Theory to the study of the Lorentz and Poincaré groups, to the point where we are able to construct the CSP representation. Finally, after a brief review of the Higher-Spin formalism, through the Schwinger-Fronsdal actions, we enter the realm of CSP Field Theory. We study and explore all the local symmetries of the CSP action, as well as all of the nuances associated with the introduction of an enlarged spacetime, which is used to formulate the CSP action. We end our discussion by showing that the physical contents of the CSP action are precisely what we expected them to be, in comparison to our Group Theoretical approach. / Nesta dissertação exploramos as características da formulação de uma Teoria de Gauge para partículas de spin contínuo (CSP). Para tornar a nossa discussão o mais auto-contida possível, começamos por introduzir todas as informações básicas de Teoria de Grupos - assim como de Teoria de Representações - que são necessárias para enteder de onde surgem as CSPs. A partir daí aplicamos o que foi apresentado sobre Teoria de Grupos para o estudo dos grupos de Lorentz e de Poincaré, até o ponto em que conseguimos construir a representação CSP. Finalmente, após uma rápida revisão do formalismo de spin altos (Higher Spins), através do estudo das ações de Schwinger-Fronsdal, damos início ao estudo de uma Teoria de Campos para CSPs. Estudamos e exploramos todas as simetrias locais da ação que descreve uma CSP livre, assim como todas as sutilezas que surgem a partir da introdução de uma nova coordenada, que resulta em um espaço-tempo estendido no qual a ação é definida. Terminamos nossa discussão mostrando que todo o conteúdo físico decorrente da ação para uma CSP livre coincide com o que vimos em nossa discussão de Teoria de Grupos.

The thesis treats aspects of string/M-theory in anti-de Sitter spacetimes and their supersymmetric completions. By applying the AdS/CFT correspondence, as well as models of spin chains and singletons, we try to attain a better understanding of the underlying symmetries and the unbroken phases of string/M-theory. Tensionless string/M-theory in anti-de Sitter spacetime is argued to imply a higher spin gauge symmetry enhancement and to be described by gauged sigma models of multi-singletons as well as by closed singleton strings. Vasiliev's weakly projected equations of symmetric massless higher spin gauge fields in the vector oscillator formulation is shown to follow from a deformation of the singleton model. Various four dimensional minimal as well as non-minimal supersymmetric higher spin gauge theories in the spinor formulation are examined. The minimal higher spin gauge theory based on the symmetry algebra hs(1|4) is elaborated on in an N=1 superspace, illustrating the remarkable fact that the choice of base manifold is not fixed in unfolded dynamics. The importance of the representations saturating the unitarity bounds in anti-de Sitter spacetime is stressed throughout the thesis, with particular emphasis on the singleton and the massless representations. Singletons, and hence massless states, are shown to appear as bound states on the string or p-brane and are localized at cusps. Furthermore, we examine semiclassical string solutions in Type IIB String Theory in AdS(5) x S(5) and their boundary duals in N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory in d=4 which are constituted out of thermodynamic composite operators. By using integrable spin chain techniques and Bäcklund transformations in the field theory and in the string theory, respectively, the one-loop anomalous dimensions as well as the tower of conserved charges of the composite operators are shown to be in agreement with the energies and the tower of conserved charges associated with the dual string states.

Höhere Spin Theorien haben in den letzten Jahren große Aufmerksamkeit gefunden. Ein Grund dafür ist, dass diese Theorien dual zu besonders einfachen konformen Feldtheorien sind. Die einzigen bekannten wechselwirkenden höheren Spin Theorien wurden von Vasiliev in einem sehr ungewöhnlichen Formalismus und mit unendlich vielen Hilfsfeldern konstruiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit extrahiert die Physik, die durch diese Gleichungen beschrieben wird. Wir untersuchen im Detail die Wechselwirkungen, das Spektrum sowie die Lokalitätseigenschaften der Vasiliev Theorie. Diese Arbeit ist die erste systematische Untersuchung der Vasiliev Theorie auf wechselwirkender Ebene (nur ausgedrückt durch physikalische Felder). / Higher-spin theories have received significant attention over the last years. This is because they arise as the bulk duals of comparatively tractable conformal field theories. The only known interacting higher-spin theories were constructed by Vasiliev and are formulated in a highly non-standard way in terms of an infinite number of auxiliary fields. This thesis extracts physics out of Vasiliev theory. We study in detail its interactions, spectrum and locality properties. We consider both the three- and four-dimensional case. Our work represents the first systematic study of Vasiliev theory at the interacting level (in terms of physical fields only).

<p>For the first time in the history of physics we stand in front of a theory that might actually serve as a unification of it all - string theory. It provides a self-consistent framework for gravity and quantum mechanics, which naturally incorporates matter and gauge interactions of the type seen in the standard model. Unfortunately, at the moment we do not know of any principle that selects the vacuum of the theory, so predictions about our four-dimensional world are still absent. However, the introduction of extended objects opens up an intricate new arena of physics, which is non-trivial and challenging to map out, even at a basic level.</p><p>A key concept of quantum gravity is holography; this is realised in string theory by the AdS/CFT correspondence, which relates string theory to a field theory living in a lower dimensional space. In this thesis we discuss two limits of the correspondence, namely the BMN limit, giving rise to a plane wave geometry, and the tensionless limit, exhibiting massless higher spin interactions. We also study a limit of string theory in a background electric field, where the theory is described by open strings and positively wound closed strings only.</p><p>We begin with a brief review of the theory, focusing on an intuitive understanding of the basic aspects and serving as an introduction to the papers. In the first paper we calculate, from two different points of view, scattering amplitudes in the non-commutative open string limit. In the second paper we obtain the quadratic scalar field contributions to the stress-energy tensor in the minimal bosonic higher spin gauge theory in four dimensions. In the last paper we propose a way to avoid fermion doubling when discretizing the string in the BMN limit.</p>