Related papers: Making sense of ghosts
We analyze perturbative aspects of gauged matrix models, including those where classically the gauge symmetry is partially broken. Ghost fields play a crucial role in the Feynman rules for these vacua. We use this formalism to elucidate the…
The new ekpyrotic scenario attempts to solve the singularity problem by involving violation of the null energy condition in a model which combines the ekpyrotic/cyclic scenario with the ghost condensate theory and the curvaton mechanism of…
As a most promising candidate for quantum theory of the gravity, the superstring theory has attracted many researchers including cosmologists. It is expected that the cosmological initial singularity is avoided within the context of the…
We discuss the physical interpretation of unparticles and review the constraints from cosmology. Unparticles may be understood in terms of confined states of a strongly-coupled scale-invariant theory, where scale-invariance implies that the…
At the primary level of reality as described by quantum field theory, a fundamental particle like an electron represents a stable, discrete, propagating excited state of its underlying quantum field. QFT also tells us that the lowest vacuum…
The asymptotic safety scenario in quantum gravity is reviewed, according to which a renormalizable quantum theory of the gravitational field is feasible which reconciles asymptotically safe couplings with unitarity. All presently known…
Asymptotic safety (an ultraviolet fixed point with finite-dimensional critical surface) offers the possibility that a predictive theory of quantum gravity can be obtained from the quantization of classical general relativity. However, it is…
Quantum gravity was born as that branch of modern theoretical physics that tries to unify its guiding principles, i.e., quantum mechanics and general relativity. Nowadays it is providing new insight into the unification of all fundamental…
Asymptotically safe quantum gravity is a candidate theory to quantum gravity, which could unify the gravitational interaction with particle physics. It is characterized by quantum scale-symmetry at high energies. The constraining power of…
We study patterns of quantum entanglement in systems of spins and ghost-spins regarding them as simple quantum mechanical toy models for theories containing negative norm states. We define a single ghost-spin as in arXiv:1602.06505 [hep-th]…
In this work, we present novel analytical solutions for static and spherically symmetric wormhole geometries threaded by an anisotropic distribution of matter conformally coupled to a scalar ghost field. We explore the main features of the…
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…
We show that general infrared modifications of the Einstein-Hilbert action obtained by addition of curvature invariants are not viable. These modifications contain either ghosts or light gravity scalars. A very specific fine-tuning might…
Astonishing cancellations take place in the calculation of high-energy scattering cross sections in quantum quadratic gravity, a quantum field theory for gravity. Tree-level differential cross sections that are minimally inclusive behave as…
As quantum theory celebrates its 100th birthday, spectacular successes are mixed with outstanding puzzles and promises of new technologies. This article reviews both the successes of quantum theory and the ongoing debate about its…
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…
Both the static and homogeneous metrics describing the spherically symmetric gravitational field of a crossflow of incoming and outgoing null dust streams are generalized for the case of the two-component ghost radiation. Static solutions…
Theories with fourth-order derivatives, including the Lee-Wick finite QED model and Quadratic Gravity, have a better UV behaviour, but the presence of negative metric ghost modes endanger unitarity. Noticing that the ghost acquires a…
The orbifold construction via topological defects in quantum field theory can either be understood as a state sum construction internal to a given ambient theory, or as the procedure of (identifying and) gauging ordinary and…
The first mathematically consistent exact equations of quantum gravity in the Heisenberg representation and Hamilton gauge are obtained. It is shown that the path integral over the canonical variables in the Hamilton gauge is mathematically…