UV completion on the worldline

Abstract

A framework for UV completing particle theories is proposed, based on the worldline formalism, which is equivalent to weighting all sums over histories with a proper-time dependent measure that has a smallest proper-time. We deduce a criterion to avoid ghosts, and find that the ghost-free theories have the (string-theory inspired) infinite-derivative model of Siegel as a special case, but represent a significant generalisation. Generically, the UV of such theories is dominated by a saddle-point in the proper-time, leading to simplification in the computation of amplitudes. We focus on a particularly attractive option which is to mimic the regulating properties of modular invariance with a worldline “inversion symmetry”.