On partition function and Weyl anomaly of conformal higher spin fields

Understand

We study 4-dimensional higher-derivative conformal higher spin (CHS) fields generalising Weyl graviton and conformal gravitino.

• They appear, in particular, as "induced" theories in the AdS/CFT context.
• We consider their partition function on curved Einstein-space backgrounds like (A)dS or sphere and Ricci-flat spaces.
• Remarkably, the bosonic (integer spin s) CHS partition function appears to be given by a product of partition functions of the standard 2nd-derivative "partially massless" spin s fields, generalising the previously known expression for the 1-loop Weyl graviton (s=2) partition function.