Dynamical systems with benign ghosts

Abstract

We consider finite and infinite-dimensional ghost-ridden dynamical systems whose Hamiltonians involve non positive definite kinetic terms. We point out the existence of three classes of such systems where the ghosts are benign, i.e. systems whose evolution is unlimited in time:(i) systems obtained from the variation of bounded-motion systems; (ii) systems describing motions over certain Lorentzian manifolds and (iii) higher-derivative models related to certain modified Korteweg--de Vries equations.

25 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Comments on the Dynamics of the Pais-Uhlenbeck Oscillator
• Global solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell equations in higher dimensions
• Classical and Quantum Dynamics of Higher-Derivative Systems
• Supersymmetry vs ghosts
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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Higher derivative Hamiltonians with benign ghosts from affine Toda lattices
• Gauging the superconformal group with a graded dual operator