{
  "abstract": "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 certain quadratic couplings 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 a superposition of positive-norm multi-particle states. Consequently, no free asymptotic one-particle ghost state exists, while the true free asymptotic states have zero norm and hence vanishing localization probability. 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.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: JHEP 10 (2026), 035",
  "arxiv": "2605.29047",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Luca Buoninfante"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c36vfe3eyk8vp.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2605.29047",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "c36vfe3eyk8vp",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.29047",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-th"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
      "quant-ph"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.29047",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-02",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c36vfe3eyk8vp.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:26:45Z",
      "native_id": "2605.29047",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.29047"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-th",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    },
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:quant-ph",
      "subfield": "quantum"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Asymptotic Quantum Dynamics of Ghost Fields",
  "title_text": "Asymptotic Quantum Dynamics of Ghost Fields",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:26:45Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c36vfe3eyk8vp",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1007/jhep10(2026)035",
      "pid": "9mhjnjjb4v20q",
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": "Asymptotic quantum dynamics of ghost fields",
      "venue": "Journal of High Energy Physics"
    }
  ]
}