Fourth Order Theories Without Ghosts

Aharon Davidson (Ben Gurion University of the Negev); Philip D. Mannheim (University of Connecticut)

arxiv: hep-th/0001115 · v1 · submitted 2000-01-19 · ✦ hep-th · gr-qc

Fourth Order Theories Without Ghosts

Philip D. Mannheim (University of Connecticut) , Aharon Davidson (Ben Gurion University of the Negev) This is my paper

classification ✦ hep-th gr-qc

keywords orderfourthactionghostssecondstatestheoryappear

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Using the Dirac constraint method we show that the pure fourth-order Pais-Uhlenbeck oscillator model is free of observable negative norm states. Even though such ghosts do appear when the fourth order theory is coupled to a second order one, the limit in which the second order action is switched off is found to be a highly singular one in which these states move off shell. Given this result, construction of a fully unitary, renormalizable, gravitational theory based on a purely fourth order action in 4 dimensions now appears feasible.

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