Unitary Quadratic Quantum Gravity in 4D

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Kumar, K. Sravan, Marto, João
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866915954244452352
author Kumar, K. Sravan
Marto, João
author_facet Kumar, K. Sravan
Marto, João
contents 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 Källén--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.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_19707
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Unitary Quadratic Quantum Gravity in 4D
Kumar, K. Sravan
Marto, João
High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
Quantum Physics
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 Källén--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.
title Unitary Quadratic Quantum Gravity in 4D
topic High Energy Physics - Theory
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.19707