Related papers: Ghost Problems from Pauli-Villars to Fourth-Order …
In this work, we show that, for the $i\phi^{3}$ scalar field theory, their exists a contradiction between the assumption that the field is real and the fact that the quantized as well as the classical fields have to satisfy the Klein-Gordon…
We consider a problem whether bound states are made in a scalar theory with a fourth-order derivative term or not. After rewriting the theory to a standard scalar theory with second-order derivative terms, we calculate a correlation…
It has been claimed in a series of papers that scalar fields with a fourth-order Lagrangian $\sim(\Box\varphi)^2$ can solve the cosmological constant problem by canceling the loop contributions from standard model fields, and that their…
We consider the simplest nontrivial supersymmetric quantum mechanical system involving higher derivatives. We unravel the existence of additional bosonic and fermionic integrals of motion forming a nontrivial algebra. This allows one to…
Poincar\'e gauge theories provide an approach to gravity based on the gauging of the Poincar\'e group, whose homogeneous part generates curvature while the translational sector gives rise to torsion. In this note we revisit the stability of…
We investigate the stability against inhomogeneous perturbations and the appearance of ghost modes in Gauss-Bonnet gravitational theories with a non-minimally coupled scalar field, which can be regarded as either the dilaton or a…
We investigate the non-Pauli-Fierz(nPF) theory, a linearized massive gravity with a generic graviton mass term, which has been ignored due to a ghost in its spectrum and the resultant loss of unitarity. We first show that it is possible to…
We study the creation and evolution of cosmological perturbations in renormalizable quadratic gravity with a Weyl term. We adopt a prescription that implies the stability of the vacuum at the price of introducing a massive spin-two ghost…
Adding terms quadratic in the curvature to the Einstein-Hilbert action renders gravity renormalizable. This property is preserved in the presence of the most general renormalizable couplings with (and of) a generic quantum field theory…
It is shown that ghost fields are indispensable in deriving well-defined antiderivatives in pure space-like axial gauge quantizations of gauge fields. To avoid inessential complications we confine ourselves to noninteracting abelian fields…
We construct four-dimensional covariant non-linear theories of massive gravity which are ghost-free in the decoupling limit to all orders. These theories resum explicitly all the nonlinear terms of an effective field theory of massive…
This chapter of the Handbook of Quantum Gravity aims to illustrate how nonlocality can be implemented in field theories, as well as the manner it solves fundamental difficulties of gravitational theories. We review Stelle's quadratic…
In the context of Lorentz-invariant massive gravity we show that classical solutions around heavy sources are plagued by ghost instabilities. The ghost shows up in the effective field theory at huge distances from the source, much bigger…
The Wess-Zumino consistency condition for four-dimensional Einstein gravity is investigated in the space of local forms involving the fields, the ghosts, the antifields and their derivatives. Its general solution is constructed for all…
Theories with infinite volume extra dimensions open exciting opportunities for particle physics. We argued recently that along with attractive features there are phenomenological difficulties in this class of models. In fact, there is no…
We argue that in classical and quantum theories of gravity the configuration space and Hilbert space may not be constructible through any finite procedure. If this is the case then the "problem of time" in quantum cosmology may be a…
In the DGP model, the ``self-accelerating'' solution is plagued by a ghost instability, which makes the solution untenable. This fact as well as all interesting departures from GR are fully captured by a four-dimensional effective…
We encounter these demons on the path towards a UV complete QFT of gravity and a horizonless replacement for black holes. The fate of the ghost is discussed in the strong coupling version of classically-scale-invariant quadratic gravity.…
We suggest and briefly review a new sort of superrenormalizable models of higher derivative quantum gravity. The higher derivative terms in the action can be introduced in such a way that all the unphysical massive states have complex…
Many theories of modified gravity with higher order derivatives are usually ignored because of serious problems that appear due to an additional ghost degree of freedom. Most dangerously, it causes an immediate decay of the vacuum. However,…