English

Anti-Instability of Complex Ghost

High Energy Physics - Theory 2024-04-12 v2

Abstract

We argue that Lee-Wick's complex ghost appearing in any higher derivative theory is stable and its asymptotic field exists. It may be more appropriate to call it ``anti-unstable" in the sense that, the more the ghost `decays' into lighter ordinary particles, the larger the probability the ghost remains as itself becomes. This is explicitly shown by analyzing the two-point functions of the ghost Heisenberg field which is obtained as an exact result in the NN\rightarrow\infty limit in a massive scalar ghost theory with light O(N)O(N)-vector scalar matter. The anti-instability is a consequence of the fact that the poles of the complex ghost propagator are located on the physical sheet in the complex plane of four-momentum squared. This should be contrasted to the case of the ordinary unstable particle, whose propagator has no pole on the physical sheet.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2402.15956,
  title  = {Anti-Instability of Complex Ghost},
  author = {Jisuke Kubo and Taichiro Kugo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.15956},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

19pages, 3figures, published version

R2 v1 2026-06-28T14:59:17.502Z