Related papers: Solution to the ghost problem in higher-derivative…
We review the history of the ghost problem in quantum field theory from the Pauli-Villars regulator theory to currently popular fourth-order derivative quantum gravity theories. While these theories all appear to have unitarity-violating…
In this paper we study perturbatively an extension of the Stelle higher derivative gravity involving an infinite number of derivative terms. We know that the usual quadratic action is renormalizable but is not unitary because of the…
With fourth-order derivative theories leading to propagators of the generic ghost-like $1/(k^2-M_1^2)-1/(k^2-M_2^2)$ form, it would appear that such theories have negative norm ghost states and are not unitary. However on constructing the…
Second-order-derivative plus fourth-order-derivative gravity is the ultraviolet completion of second-order-derivative quantum Einstein gravity. While it achieves renormalizability through states of negative Dirac norm, the unitarity…
In this paper we study perturbatively an extension of the Stelle higher derivative gravity involving an infinite number of derivative terms. We know that the usual quadratic action is renormalizable but suffers of the unitarity problem…
In this review we discuss the connection between two seemingly disparate topics, macroscopic gravity on astrophysical scales and Hamiltonians that are not Hermitian but $PT$ symmetric on microscopic ones. In particular we show that the…
We investigate brane world models in higher-derivative gravity theories where the gravitational Lagrangian is an arbitrary function of the Ricci scalar. Making use of the conformal equivalence of such gravity models and Einstein-Hilbert…
It has been suggested that new massive gravity with higher order terms in the curvature may be renormalizable and thus a candidate for renormalizable quantum gravity. We show that three-dimensional gravity that contains quadratic scalar…
Through use of the Pauli-Villars regulator procedure we construct a second- plus fourth-order-derivative theory of gravity that serves as an ultraviolet completion of standard second-order-derivative quantum Einstein gravity that is…
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 has been suggested that higher-derivative gravity theories coupled to a scalar field with shift symmetry may be an important candidate for a quantum gravity. We show that this class of gravity theories are renormalizable in D = 3 and 4…
Recently, a practical approach to holographic renormalization has been developed based on the Hamilton-Jacobi formulation. Using a simple Einstein-scalar theory, we clarify that this approach does not conflict with the Hamiltonian…
The Wilsonian renormalization group (RG) requires Euclidean signature. The conformal factor of the metric then has a wrong-sign kinetic term, which has a profound effect on its RG properties. In particular around the Gaussian fixed point,…
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…
In this paper we introduce a perturbatively super-renormalizable and unitary theory of quantum gravity in any dimension D. The theory presents two entire functions, a.k.a. "form factors", and a finite number of local operators required by…
We introduce new techniques that can preserve unitarity of the system including ghost particles. Negative norms of the particles can be involved in zero-norm states by constraints of the physical space. These are useful to apply the…
We consider the cosmology of the Ricci-tensor-squared gravity in the Palatini variational approach. The gravitational action of standard general relativity is modified by adding a function f(R^abR_ab) to the Einstein-Hilbert action, and the…
Einsteinian cubic gravity is a higher-order gravitational theory in which the linearized field equations of motion match Einstein's equations on a maximally symmetric background. This theory allows the existence of a static and spherically…
We study a theory of gravity of the form $f(\mathcal{G})$ where $\mathcal{G}$ is the Gauss-Bonnet topological invariant without considering the standard Einstein-Hilbert term as common in the literature, in arbitrary $(d+1)$ dimensions. The…
Theories described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians are known to possess strictly positive energy eigenvalues and exhibit unitary time evolution if the Hamiltonian is symmetric under discrete parity and time (PT) transformation. In this work,…