Gauge invariances and phases of massive higher spins in (anti-) de Sitter space - art. no. 031601

The (m(2), Lambda) plane of spin s > 1 massive fields in (anti-) de Sitter space backgrounds is shown to consist of separate phases, divided by lines of novel "partially massless" gauge theories that successively remove helic ities, starting from the lowest, 0 or +/-1/2. The norms of the excluded sta tes flip as the gauge lines are crossed and only the region containing the massive Minkowski theory is unitary. The partially massless gauge theories are unitary or not, depending on the ordering of the gauge lines. This "lev el splitting" of massless Minkowski gauge theories is specific to nonzero L ambda.