Related papers: Exorcising ghosts in quantum gravity
The objective of this thesis is to present a viable extension of general relativity free from cosmological singularities. A viable cosmology, in this sense, is one that is free from ghosts, tachyons or exotic matter, while staying true to…
In this manuscript we will present the theoretical framework of the recently proposed infinite derivative theory of gravity with a non-symmetric connection. We will explicitly derive the field equations at the linear level and obtain new…
A quantum ghost that destabilizes the Schwarzschild solution, transforming it into a naked singularity, may seem like a physicist's worst nightmare. However, we argue that this scenario represents the natural evolution of a black hole…
The quadratic theory of gravity is the unique renormalizable theory of quantum gravity in 4 dimensions, as proved by K. S. Stelle in 1977. Over the decades, the theory has been understood to contain a massive tensor ghost, and several…
We study the renormalization group flow of gravity coupled to scalar matter using functional renormalization group techniques. The novel feature is the inclusion of higher-derivative terms in the scalar propagator. Such terms give rise to…
We analyze the unitarity properties of higher derivative quantum field theories which are free of ghosts and ultraviolet singularities. We point out that in spite of the absence of ghosts most of these theories are not unitary. This result…
The unimodular version of the ghost-free higher derivative gravity is obtained. It is the unimodular reduction of some particular lagrangians quadratic in curvature.
We present the most general quadratic curvature action with torsion including infinite covariant derivatives and study its implications around the Minkowski background via the Palatini approach. Provided the torsion is solely given by the…
We hereby introduce and extensively study a class of non-polynomial higher derivative theories of gravity that realize a ultraviolet (UV) completion of Einstein general relativity. These theories are unitary (ghost free) and at most only…
We explore how the stability of metric perturbations in higher derivative theories of gravity depends on the energy scale of initial seeds of such perturbations and on a typical energy scale of the gravitational vacuum background. It is…
In this work we shall address the ghost issue of $F\left( R,\mathcal{G} \right)$ gravity, which is known to be plagued with ghost degrees of freedom. These ghosts occur due to the presence of higher than two derivatives in the field…
The inclusion of higher derivatives is a necessary condition for a renormalizable or superrenormalizable local theory of quantum gravity. On the other hand, higher derivatives lead to classical instabilities and a loss of unitarity at the…
We first find the linear approximation of the second plus fourth order derivative massive conformal gravity action. Then we reduce the linearized action to separated second order derivative terms, which allows us to quantize the theory by…
It is shown that polynomial gravity theories with more than four derivatives in each scalar and tensor sectors have a regular weak-field limit, without curvature singularities. This is achieved by proving that in these models the effect of…
The quantum theory of a free particle on a portion of two-dimensional Euclidean space bounded by a circle and subject to non-local boundary conditions gives rise to bulk and surface states. Starting from this well known property, a…
The aim of these notes is to provide a self-contained review of why it is generically a problem when a solution of a theory possesses ghost fields among the perturbation modes. We define what a ghost field is and we show that its presence…
We hereby present a class of multidimensional higher derivative theories of gravity that realizes an ultraviolet completion of Einstein general relativity. This class is marked by a "non-polynomal" entire function (form factor), which…
An alternative to the effective field theory approach to treat ghosts in higher derivative theories is to attempt to integrate them out via the Euclidean path integral formalism. It has been suggested that this method could provide a…
Quadratic gravity is a fourth-order (in derivatives) theory that can serve as an attractive upgrade to the standard description of gravity provided by General Relativity, thanks to its renormalizability and its built-in description of…
Ghost fields in quantum field theory have been a long-standing problem. Specifically, theories with higher derivatives involve ghosts that appear in the Hamiltonian in the form of linear momenta term, which is commonly known as the…