Related papers: Ghost Loops are Indispensable in Unitary Gauge
Measurements of the luminosity distance have played a key role in discovering the late-time cosmic acceleration. However, when accounting for inhomogeneities in the Universe, its interpretation has been plagued with infrared divergences in…
We discuss several issues regarding analyses which use loop calculations to put constraints on anomalous trilinear gauge boson couplings (TGC's). Many such analyses give far too stringent bounds. This is independent of questions of gauge…
The renormalization group flow of unimodular quantum gravity is computed by taking into account the graviton and Faddeev-Popov ghosts anomalous dimensions. In this setting, a ultraviolet attractive fixed point is found. Symmetry-breaking…
Conventional wisdom holds that no four-dimensional gravity field theory can be ultraviolet finite. This understanding is based mainly on power counting. Recent studies confirm that one-loop N = 8 supergravity amplitudes satisfy the…
An inspection of the precise geometric constructions underlying fundamental notions in quantum gauge field theories sheds light on various aspects which tend to be obscured in the usual formalisms. Revising the notions of mutually…
In theories with extra dimensions the Standard Model Higgs field can be identified with the internal components of higher-dimensional gauge fields (Higgs-gauge unification). The higher-dimensional gauge symmetry prevents the Higgs mass from…
Unitarity is a pillar of quantum theory. Nevertheless, it is also a source of several of its conceptual problems. We note that in a world where measurements are relational, as is the case in gravitation, quantum mechanics exhibits a…
Understanding the role of higher derivatives is probably one of the most relevant questions in quantum gravity theory. Already at the semiclassical level, when gravity is a classical background for quantum matter fields, the action of…
A major test of the capabilities of modern quantum simulators and NISQ devices is the reliable realization of gauge theories, which constitute a gold standard of implementational efficacy. In addition to unavoidable unitary errors,…
We calculate the one-loop divergences for quantum gravity with cosmological constant, using new parametrization of quantum metric. The conformal factor of the metric is treated as an independent variable. As a result the theory possesses an…
We use trajectory calculations to successfully explain two-photon "ghost" diffraction, a phenomenon previously explained via quantum mechanical entanglement. The diffraction patterns are accumulated one photon pair at a time. The…
A crucial problem in quantum cosmology is a careful analysis of the one-loop semiclassical approximation for the wave function of the universe, after an appropriate choice of mixed boundary conditions. The results for Euclidean quantum…
The rigorous conditions to obtain sensible predictions in non (proper) renormalizable Quantum Field Theories were derived a long time ago, most notably in the works of Steven Weinberg. In this paper we explicitly illustrate the challenges…
The role of gauge invariance is reconsidered by "deriving it without assuming it" within an autonomous approach to interactions of Standard Model particles. In this approach, the renormalizable interactions are purely constrained by quantum…
Perturbation theory for gravity in dimensions greater than two requires higher derivatives in the free action. Higher derivatives seem to lead to ghosts, states with negative norm. We consider a fourth order scalar field theory and show…
We calculate the contribution of graviton exchange to the running of gauge couplings at lowest non-trivial order in perturbation theory. Including this contribution in a theory that features coupling constant unification does not upset this…
We remark that Ostrogradsky ghosts in higher-derivative gravity, with a finite number of derivatives, are fictitious as they result from an unjustified truncation performed in a complete theory containing infinitely many curvature…
We construct the three-loop four-point amplitude of N=8 supergravity using the unitarity method. The amplitude is ultraviolet finite in four dimensions. Novel cancellations, not predicted by traditional superspace power-counting arguments,…
We consider the possibility that some supersymmetric gauge theories which are not asymptotically free can be governed by ultraviolet-stable fixed points. If this scenario can be realized, gaugino masses will exhibit power-law running with…
Massive $U(1)$ gauge theories featuring parametrically light vectors are suspected to belong in the Swampland of consistent EFTs that cannot be embedded into a theory of quantum gravity. We study four-dimensional, chiral $U(1)$ gauge…