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Unitary Quadratic Quantum Gravity in 4D

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-04-27 v2 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Mathematical Physics math.MP Quantum Physics

Abstract

In quadratic gravity, with a positive Weyl squared coefficient, the extra spin-2 sector is shown to correspond to a dual inverted harmonic oscillator, instead of a ghost. Using the Wightman spectrum condition, we prove that the associated K\"{a}ll\'{e}n--Lehmann spectral density vanishes, reflecting the absence of a normalizable ground state and the spacelike nature of the propagator pole. This uniquely fixes the propagator to a principal value form as a theorem, not a prescription. The optical theorem is satisfied, the dual IHO spin-2 is not an asymptotic state, and gives only virtual contributions at all loop orders. As a result, unitarity is preserved consistently with renormalizability.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.19707,
  title  = {Unitary Quadratic Quantum Gravity in 4D},
  author = {K. Sravan Kumar and João Marto},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.19707},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

9 pages, 2 figures. Minor typos corrected

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:28:50.641Z