Cubic action for spinning black holes from massive higher-spin gauge symmetry

Abstract

Abstract Scattering of two Kerr Black Holes emitting gravitational waves can be captured by an effective theory of a massive higher-spin field interacting with the gravitational field. While other compact objects should activate a multitude of non-minimal interactions it is the black holes that should be captured by the simplest minimal interaction. Implementing massive higher-spin symmetry via a string-inspired BRST approach we construct an action that reproduces the correct cubic amplitude of Arkani-Hamed-Huang-Huang. The same is achieved for the root-Kerr theory, i.e. for the minimal electromagnetic interaction of a massive higher-spin field.