A note on spin-s duality

Duality is investigated for higher spin (s ≥ 2), free, massless, bosonic gauge fields. We show how the dual formulations can be derived from a common "parent", first-order action. This goes beyond most of the previous treatments where higher-spin duality was investigated at the level of the equations of motion only. In D = 4 spacetime dimensions, the dual theories turn out to be described by the same Pauli-Fierz (s = 2) or Fronsdal (s ≥ 3) action (as it is the case for spin 1). In the particular s = 2 D = 5 case, the Pauli-Fierz action and the Curtright action are shown to be related through duality. A crucial ingredient of the analysis is given by the first-order, gauge-like, reformulation of higher spin theories due to Vasiliev. © SISSA/ISAS 2003.