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Ghosts without runaway

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arxiv 2108.06294 v1 pith:6MCA3OSR submitted 2021-08-13 gr-qc astro-ph.COhep-th

Ghosts without runaway

classification gr-qc astro-ph.COhep-th
keywords ghostskineticmechanicalnegativestablesystemsaboveanalytically
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal T4 reserved
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We present a simple class of mechanical models where a canonical degree of freedom interacts with another one with a negative kinetic term, i.e. with a ghost. We prove analytically that the classical motion of the system is completely stable for all initial conditions, notwithstanding that the conserved Hamiltonian is unbounded from below and above. This is fully supported by numerical computations. Systems with negative kinetic terms often appear in modern cosmology, quantum gravity and high energy physics and are usually deemed as unstable. Our result demonstrates that for mechanical systems this common lore can be too naive and that living with ghosts can be stable.

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Cited by 5 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score.

  1. Ghost Degrees of Freedom Without Quantum Runaway: Exact Moment Bounds from an Operator Conservation Law

    quant-ph 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    An exact operator conservation law from canonical commutation relations bounds second moments of a ghost-coupled oscillator for all time and states, preventing quantum runaway.

  2. Effective geometrodynamics for renormalization-group improved black-hole spacetimes in spherical symmetry

    gr-qc 2026-01 unverdicted novelty 7.0

    RG-improved black hole spacetimes with scale-dependent gravitational coupling are derived as vacuum solutions to 2D Horndeski master field equations, embedding prior works and exposing implementation discrepancies.

  3. Quantum mechanics with a ghost: Counterexamples to spectral denseness

    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    Ghostly quantum systems can have discrete non-dense energy spectra under classical stability conditions, providing counterexamples to spectral denseness.

  4. Unitary Time Evolution and Vacuum for a Quantum Stable Ghost

    hep-th 2026-04 unverdicted novelty 6.0

    A quantum ghost coupled polynomially to a harmonic oscillator has unitary evolution and a stable vacuum because a conserved quantity possesses a positive discrete spectrum.

  5. Physical nonviability of $f(\mathbb{Q})$ in the scalar-tensor representation

    gr-qc 2026-06 unverdicted novelty 2.0

    f(Q) gravity exhibits pathological behavior in its scalar-tensor representation.