Giving up the ghost

DOI10.1088/1751-8113/41/30/304018MaRDI QIDQ3518632zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Philip D. Mannheim, Carl M. Bender

Publication date 8 August 2008

Published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0807.2607

zbMATH Keywords

Pais-Uhlenbeck model

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Axiomatic quantum field theory; operator algebras (81T05) Model quantum field theories (81T10)

Abstract: The Pais-Uhlenbeck model is a quantum theory described by a higher-derivative field equation. It has been believed for many years that this model possesses ghost states (quantum states of negative norm) and therefore that this model is a physically unacceptable quantum theory. The existence of such ghost states was believed to be attributable to the field equation having more than two derivatives. This paper shows that the Pais-Uhlenbeck model does not possess any ghost states at all and that it is a perfectly acceptable quantum theory. The supposed ghost states in this model arise if the Hamiltonian of the model is (incorrectly) treated as being Dirac Hermitian (invariant under combined matrix transposition and complex conjugation). However, the Hamiltonian is {it not} Dirac Hermitian, but rather it is PT symmetric. When it is quantized correctly according to the rules of PT quantum mechanics, the energy spectrum is real and bounded below and all of the quantum states have positive norm.

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Cited in

(25)

• Conformal anomalies and the Einstein field equations
• Exact RG flow equations and quantum gravity
• Conservation laws and stability of field theories of derived type
• Astrophysical evidence for the non-Hermitian but PT-symmetric Hamiltonian of conformal gravity
• The quantization of a fourth-order equation without a second-order Lagrangian
• A longitudinal gauge degree of freedom and the Pais Uhlenbeck field
• Gauge theory og gravity with de Sitter symmetry as a solution to the cosmological constant problem and the dark energy puzzle
• An algebraic approach to laying a ghost to rest
• The method of Ostrogradsky, quantization, and a move toward a ghost-free future
• Ghost-free higher-derivative theory
• Einstein's gravity from a polynomial affine model
• Ghost busting: making sense of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians
• Spacetime completeness of non-singular black holes in conformal gravity
• The initial value problem for gravitational waves in conformal gravity
• The spirit of ghost code
• The Unruh effect for higher derivative field theory
• Ghost busting: making sense of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians
• Supersymmetry versus ghosts
• Gravitational effective action and entanglement entropy in UV modified theories with and without Lorentz symmetry
• Foundations of ghost stability
• Comments on entire functions of the derivative operator
• A note on the Pais-Uhlenbeck model and its coherent states
• Ghosts in higher derivative Maxwell-Chern-Simon's theory and \(\mathcal{PT}\)-symmetry
• On the stability of a nonlinear oscillator with higher derivatives
• Conformal supergravity tree amplitudes from open twistor string theory

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