Higher-Spin Theory - Part II: enter dimension three

Understand

These notes aim at providing a pedagogical and pedestrian introduction to the subject and assume no previous knowledge apart from that of general relativity.

• We shall first recall the "frame" formulation of the later theory, then particularize it to three dimensions, and will end those preliminaries by reviewing the formulation of three-dimensional gravity as a gauge theory governed by a Chern-Simons action.
• An analogous path is then followed for higher-spin fields at the free level.
• Once the equivalent Chern-Simons action is established thereof, it is then explained how one can formulate three-dimensional higher-spin theories at the non-linear level by considering higher-spin Lie algebras.