Problems and Progress in Covariant High Spin Description

A universal description of particles with spins j > 1, transforming in ( j , 0) ⊕ (0, j ), is developed by means of representation specific second order differential wave equations without auxiliary conditions and in covariant bases such as Lorentz tensors for bosons, Lorentz-tensors with Dirac spinor components for fermions, or, within the basis of the more fundamental Weyl- Van-der-Waerden sl (2, C ) spinor-tensors. At the root of the method, which is free from the pathologies suffered by the traditional approaches, are projectors constructed from the Casimir invariants of the spin-Lorentz group, and the group of translations in the Minkowski space time. (paper)