Related papers: Solution to the ghost problem in fourth order deri…
The Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process may be used to generate a noise signal with a finite correlation time. If a one-dimensional stochastic process is driven by such a noise source, it may be analysed by solving a Fokker-Planck equation in two…
In a recent paper Bender and Mannheim showed that the unequal-frequency fourth-order derivative Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator model has a realization in which the energy eigenvalues are real and bounded below, the Hilbert-space inner product is…
We consider the Euclidean path integral approach to higher-derivative theories proposed by Hawking and Hertog (Phys. Rev. D65 (2002), 103515). The Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator is studied in some detail. The operator algebra is reconstructed…
We analyze the quantization of the Pais-Uhlenbeck fourth order oscillator within the framework of deformation quantization. Our approach exploit the Noether symmetries of the system by proposing integrals of motion as the variables to…
We study rates of convergence in central limit theorems for the partial sum of squares of general Gaussian sequences, using tools from analysis on Wiener space. No assumption of stationarity, asymptotically or otherwise, is made. The main…
We show that the on-shell path integral for asymptotically flat Euclidean spacetimes can be given in the first-order formulation of general relativity, without assuming the boundary to be isometrically embedded in Euclidean space and…
There has been a lot of recent work addressing the representation theory that underlies logarithmic conformal field theories. A full understanding of these models will however also need analytic data, in particular the correlation…
Interacting theories with higher derivatives involve ghosts. They correspond to instabilities that display themselves at the classical level. We notice that comparatively "benign" mechanical higher-derivative systems exist where the…
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…
We introduce a new class of singular partial differential equations, referred to as the second-order hyperbolic Fuchsian systems, and we investigate the associated initial value problem when data are imposed on the singularity. First, we…
We study $c<1$ matter coupled to gravity in the Coulomb gas formalism using the double cohomology of the string BRST and Felder BRST charges. We find that states outside the primary conformal grid are related to the states of non-zero ghost…
A Gauss-Bonnet dark energy model is considered, which is inspired in string/M-theory and takes also into account quantum contributions. Those are introduced from a conformal quantum anomaly. The corresponding solutions for the Hubble rate,…
We investigate the scattering of two scalar glueballs in pure YM theory, using the well known dilaton potential. We perform the calculations considering a glueball mass of about $m_G \approx 1.7$ GeV, as predicted by lattice QCD. We begin…
We investigate static and spherically symmetric black hole (BH) solutions in shift-symmetric quadratic-order degenerate higher-order scalar-tensor (DHOST) theories. We allow a nonconstant kinetic term $X=g^{\mu\nu}…
Recent work has shown that non-local modifications of the Einstein equations can have interesting cosmological consequences and can provide a dynamical origin for dark energy, consistent with existing data. At first sight these theories are…
The structure of Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator in the equal-frequency limit has been recently studied by Mannheim and Davidson [Phys.Rev. A71 (2005), 042110]. It appears that taking this limit, as presented in the above paper, is quite subtle…
This paper is primarily devoted to the ghost wedge states in string field theory formulated with the oscillator formalism. Our aim is to prove, using such formalism, that the wedge states can be expressed as |n> = exp[{2-n}/2 ({\cal…
The difference between vacuum energy of quantum fields in Minkowski space and in Friedmann-Robterson-Walker universe might be related to the observed dark energy. The vacuum energy of the Veneziano ghost field introduced to solve the…
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…
We propose an algebraic analysis using a 3+1 decomposition to identify conditions for a clever cancellation of the higher derivatives, which plagued the theory with Ostrogradsky ghosts, by exploiting some existing degeneracy in the…