On energy-momentum tensors as sources of spin-2 fields

The improvement terms in the generalised energy-momentum tensor of Callan, Coleman and Jackiw can be derived from a variational principle if the Lagrangian is generalised to describe coupling between 'matter' fields and a spin-2 boson field. The required Lorentz-invariant theory is a linearised version of Kibble-Sciama theory with an additional (generally covariant) coupling term in the Lagrangian. The improved energy-momentum tensor appears as the source of the spin-2 field, if terms of second order in the coupling constant are neglected. (author)