Asymptotic Quantum Dynamics of Ghost Fields
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866911725503119360 |
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| author | Buoninfante, Luca |
| author_facet | Buoninfante, Luca |
| contents | The dressed propagator of a ghost coupled to ordinary fields develops a pair of complex conjugate poles in the first Riemann sheet above the multi-particle threshold. We study the implications of this pole structure for the asymptotic field and its negative-norm one-particle state. Within the operator formalism of local quantum field theory, we show that interactions between the ghost field and the composite field of the multi-particle state persist at asymptotic times. These induce quantum interference effects that render the negative-norm one-particle state non-orthogonal to, and thus indistinguishable from, a superposition of positive-norm multi-particle states. As a result, no free asymptotic one-particle ghost state exists. The real and imaginary parts of the complex mass admit a clear physical interpretation; in particular, the inverse imaginary part sets the timescale for the onset of non-orthogonality. A freely propagating ghost is therefore confined to time intervals much shorter than its inverse width, so that a detector can never observe an isolated ghost particle asymptotically. Open questions and potential applications are discussed in the conclusions. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_29047 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Asymptotic Quantum Dynamics of Ghost Fields Buoninfante, Luca High Energy Physics - Theory General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Quantum Physics The dressed propagator of a ghost coupled to ordinary fields develops a pair of complex conjugate poles in the first Riemann sheet above the multi-particle threshold. We study the implications of this pole structure for the asymptotic field and its negative-norm one-particle state. Within the operator formalism of local quantum field theory, we show that interactions between the ghost field and the composite field of the multi-particle state persist at asymptotic times. These induce quantum interference effects that render the negative-norm one-particle state non-orthogonal to, and thus indistinguishable from, a superposition of positive-norm multi-particle states. As a result, no free asymptotic one-particle ghost state exists. The real and imaginary parts of the complex mass admit a clear physical interpretation; in particular, the inverse imaginary part sets the timescale for the onset of non-orthogonality. A freely propagating ghost is therefore confined to time intervals much shorter than its inverse width, so that a detector can never observe an isolated ghost particle asymptotically. Open questions and potential applications are discussed in the conclusions. |
| title | Asymptotic Quantum Dynamics of Ghost Fields |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Theory General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology Quantum Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.29047 |