Callum Jones (UA, Physics): Bootstrapping Higher-Spin Gauge Theories in De Sitter Space

In standard inflationary cosmological models, the large-scale structure of both the very early and very late universe are well-approximated by a spacetime with uniform positive curvature, de Sitter space. In contrast to Minkowski (zero curvature) and anti-de Sitter space (negative curvature), there is no complete classification of consistent, interacting gauge field theories mediating long-range forces in de Sitter space. This is due in part to the existence of exotic “partially massless” higher-spin representations with properties intermediate between massless and massive higher-spin fields. In this talk, borrowing ideas from on-shell scattering amplitudes and holographic conformal field theory, I will describe a curved space version of the Weinberg soft constraints, and present a systematic approach to carving out the space of consistent, interacting partially massless gauge theories.