We present a covariant quantization of the “massive” spin-$\frac{3}{2}$ Rarita-Schwinger field in de Sitter (dS) spacetime. The dS group representation theory and its Wigner interpretation combined with the Wightman-Gärding axiomatic and analyticity requirements in the complexified pseudo-Riemanian manifold constitute the basis of the quantization scheme, while the whole procedure is carried out in terms of coordinate-independent dS plane waves. We make explicit the correspondence between unitary irreducible representations of the dS group and the field theory in dS spacetime; by “massive” is meant a field that carries a particular principal series representation of the dS group. We drive the plane-wave representation of the dS massive Rarita-Schwinger field in a manifestly dS-invariant manner. We show that it exactly reduces to its Minkowskian counterpart when the curvature tends to zero as far as the analyticity domain conveniently chosen. We then present the Wightman two-point function fulfilling the minimal requirements of local anticommutativity, covariance, and normal analyticity. The Hilbert space structure and the unsmeared field operator are also defined. The analyticity properties of the waves and the two-point function that we discuss in this paper allow for a detailed study of the Hilbert space of the theory, and give rise to the thermal physical interpretation.

• Received 30 September 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.100.125022