Higher spins on AdS3 from the worldsheet

Abstract

It was recently shown that the CFT dual of string theory on AdS3 × S3 × T4, the symmetric orbifold of T4, contains a closed higher spin subsector. Via holography, this makes precise the sense in which tensionless string theory on this background contains a Vasiliev higher spin theory. In this paper we study this phenomenon directly from the worldsheet. Using the WZW description of the background with pure NS-NS flux, we identify the states that make up the leading Regge trajectory and show that they fit into the even spin N=4 Vasiliev higher spin theory. We also show that these higher spin states do not become massless, except for the somewhat singular case of level k = 1 where the theory contains a stringy tower of massless higher spin fields coming from the long string sector.