Counterpart of the Weyl tensor for Rarita-Schwinger type fields

Abstract

In dimensions larger than 3 a modified field strength for Rarita-Schwinger type fields is constructed whose components are not constrained by the field equations. In supergravity theories the result provides a modified (supercovariant) gravitino field strength related by supersymmetry to the (supercovariantized) Weyl tensor. In various cases, such as for free Rarita-Schwinger type gauge fields and for gravitino fields in several supergravity theories, the modified field strength coincides on-shell with the usual field strength. A corresponding result for first order derivatives of Dirac type spinor fields is also presented.