An action for higher spin gauge theory in four dimensions

Abstract: An action principle is presented for Vasiliev's Bosonic higher spin gauge theory in four spacetime dimensions. The action is of the form of a broken topological field theory, and arises by an extension of the MacDowell-Mansouri formulation of general relativity. In the latter theory the local degrees of freedom of general relativity arise by breaking the gauge invariance of a topological theory from $sp(4)$ to the Lorentz algebra. In Vasiliev's theory the infinite number of degrees of freedom with higher spins similarly arise by the breaking of a topological theory with an infinite dimensional gauge symmetry extending $sp(4)$ to the Lorentz algebra. The Hamiltonian formulation of Vasilev's theory is then derived from our action, and it is shown that the Hamiltonian is a linear combination of constraints, as expected for a diffeomorphism invariant theory. The constraint algebra is computed and found to be first class.