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Anti-Instability of Complex Ghost

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arxiv 2402.15956 v2 pith:QYFFXLRU submitted 2024-02-25 hep-th

classification hep-th
keywords ghostcomplexanti-instabilityfieldordinaryphysicalpropagatorscalar
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abstract

We argue that Lee-Wick's complex ghost appearing in any higher derivative theory is stable and its asymptotic field exists. It may be more appropriate to call it ``anti-unstable" in the sense that, the more the ghost `decays' into lighter ordinary particles, the larger the probability the ghost remains as itself becomes. This is explicitly shown by analyzing the two-point functions of the ghost Heisenberg field which is obtained as an exact result in the $N\rightarrow\infty$ limit in a massive scalar ghost theory with light $O(N)$-vector scalar matter. The anti-instability is a consequence of the fact that the poles of the complex ghost propagator are located on the physical sheet in the complex plane of four-momentum squared. This should be contrasted to the case of the ordinary unstable particle, whose propagator has no pole on the physical sheet.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

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

  1. Superselected ghost theory: real spectrum

    hep-th 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A ghost QFT with a real spectrum can be made probabilistic by enforcing exact ghost parity as a superselection rule, so physical states have definite norm sign.

  2. Primordial Gravitational Waves in Quadratic Gravity

    gr-qc 2025-02 unverdicted novelty 6.0 of 10

    In quadratic gravity, the inflationary tensor power spectrum is suppressed by (1 + 2H_*^2/m_gh^2)^{-1}, which restores the standard consistency relation r = -8n_t.

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