A compendium of sphere path integrals

Abstract

We study the manifestly covariant and local 1-loop path integrals on Sd+1 for general massive, shift-symmetric and (partially) massless totally symmetric tensor fields of arbitrary spin s ≥ 0 in any dimensions d ≥ 2. After reviewing the cases of massless fields with spin s = 1, 2, we provide a detailed derivation for path integrals of massless fields of arbitrary integer spins s ≥ 1. Following the standard procedure of Wick-rotating the negative conformal modes, we find a higher spin analog of Polchinski’s phase for any integer spin s ≥ 2. The derivations for low-spin (s = 0, 1, 2) massive, shift-symmetric and partially massless fields are also carried out explicitly. Finally, we provide general prescriptions for general massive and shift-symmetric fields of arbitrary integer spins and partially massless fields of arbitrary integer spins and depths.