Related papers: Living with Ghosts and their Radiative Corrections
We prove that many cosmological models characterized by vectors nonminimally coupled to the curvature (such as the Turner-Widrow mechanism for the production of magnetic fields during inflation, and models of vector inflation or vector…
We discuss spontaneous supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking mechanisms by means of modulated vacua in four-dimensional ${\cal N} =1$ supersymmetric field theories. The SUSY breaking due to spatially modulated vacua is extended to the cases of…
Ghosts have been a stumbling block in the development of a UV complete quantum field theory for gravity. We discuss how difficulties associated with ghosts are overcome in the context of 0+1d QFT. Obtaining a probability interpretation is…
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 consider a U(1) gauge theory on the five dimensional orbifold $\mathcal{M}_4\times S^1/Z_2$, where $A_5$ has even $Z_2$ parity. This leads to a light pseudoscalar degree of freedom $W(x)$ in the effective 4D theory below the…
We study free massive fermionic ghosts, in the presence of an extended line of impurities, relying on the Lagrangian formalism. We propose two distinct defect interactions, respectively, of relevant and marginal nature. The corresponding…
We consider a higher-derivative generalization of disformal transformations in $D$-dimensional spacetime and clarify the conditions under which they form a group with respect to the matrix product and the functional composition. These…
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…
Lorentz invariant quantum field theories (QFTs) with fermions in four spacetime dimensions (4D) have a $\mathbb{Z}_4$ symmetry provided there exists a basis of operators in the QFT where all operators have even operator dimension, $d$,…
The new method based on the SUSY algebra with supercharges of higher order in derivatives is proposed to search for dynamical symmetry operators in 2-dim quantum and classical systems. These symmetry operators arise when closing the SUSY…
A higher-derivative, interacting, scalar field theory in curved spacetime with the most general action of sigma-model type is studied. The one-loop counterterms of the general theory are found. The renormalization group equations…
We present an unfolded off-shell formulation for free massless higher-spin fields in 4d Minkowski space in terms of spinorial variables. This system arises from the on-shell one by the addition of external higher-spin currents, for which we…
We establish a non-renormalization theorem for a class of ghost-free local functionals describing massive vector field theories coupled to dynamical geometry. Under the assumptions of locality, Lorentz invariance, and validity of the…
We consider 2d Maxwell system defined on the Rindler space with metric ds^2=\exp(2a\xi)\cdot(d\eta^2-d\xi^2) with the goal to study the dynamics of the ghosts. We find an extra contribution to the vacuum energy in comparison with Minkowski…
We construct a new example of the high derivative four-dimensional conformal operator. This operator acts on fermions, and its contribution to the trace anomaly has opposite sign, as compared to conventional scalars, spinors and vectors.…
Taking into account the Green-Schwarz anomaly counterterm in R-symmetry gauged $N=(1,0)$ supergravity in six dimensions, and the associated modification in the Maxwell kinetic term and potential, we observe that the theory admits…
Vector Galileons are ghost-free systems containing higher derivative interactions of vector fields. They break the vector gauge symmetry, and the dynamics of the longitudinal vector polarizations acquire a Galileon symmetry in an…
Higher derivative field theories with interactions raise serious doubts about their validity due to severe energy instabilities. In many cases the implementation of a direct perturbation treatment to excise the dangerous negative-energies…
We calculate the cubic order terms in a covariant theory that gives a nonlinear completion of the Fierz-Pauli massive spin-2 action. The resulting terms have specially tuned coefficients guarantying the absence of a ghost at this order in…
We consider 4d $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity theories with modular symmetry, where the modulus $\tau$ is the upper half-plane modulo $SL(2,\mathbf{Z})$ action. We focus on enhanced discrete gauge symmetry points $\tau=i, \exp(2\pi i/3)$, and…