Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

UCLA

UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations bannerUCLA

Spacetime and Matter in Three-Dimensional Higher Spin Gravity

Abstract

We investigate the physical content of three-dimensional higher spin gravity, a sophisticated toy model of high energy string theory. Starting from spin-3 gravity and working our way toward the theory of an infinite tower of higher spins coupled to matter, we show how to use higher spin gauge invariance to consistently generalize ordinary conceptions of black holes. We also consider the dynamics of scalar fields in nontrivial higher spin backgrounds. In view of the AdS/CFT correspondence as applied to certain vector-like conformal field theories with extended conformal symmetry, we make several successful comparisons of bulk and boundary computations.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View