Higher spins and matter interacting in dimension three

Abstract

Abstract: The spectrum of Prokushkin-Vasiliev Theory is puzzling in light of the Gaberdiel-Gopakumar conjecture because it generically contains an additional sector besides higher-spin gauge and scalar fields. We find the unique truncation of the theory avoiding this problem to order 2 in perturbations around AdS3. The second-order backreaction on the physical gauge sector induced by the scalars is computed explicitly. The cubic action for the physical fields is determined completely. The subtle issue of the allowed class of pseudo-local field redefinitions is discussed.