Twistors and the massive spinning particle

Abstract

Gauge-invariant twistor variables are found for the massive spinning particle with N-extended local worldline supersymmetry, in spacetime dimensions D = 3, 4, 6. The twistor action is manifestly Lorentz invariant but the anticommuting spin variables appear exactly as in the non-relativistic limit. This allows a simple confirmation that the quantum N = 2 spinning particle has either spin one or spin zero, and that N > 2 is quantum inconsistent for D = 4, 6.LM acknowledges partial support from the National Science Foundation Award PHY-1214521. PKT acknowledges support from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (grant ST/L000385/1). AJR is supported by a grant from the London Mathematical Society, and he thanks the University of Groningen for hospitality during the writing of this paper. LM and PKT are grateful for the hospitality of the Pedro Pascual Benasque Center for Science, where part of this work was done.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from IOP via http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/49/2/02540