Classicized dynamics and initial conditions in field theories with fakeons

A bstract Theories with purely virtual particles (fakeons) do not possess a classical action in the strict sense, but rather a classicized one, obtained by integrating out the fake particles at tree level. Although this procedure generates nonlocal interactions, we show that the resulting classicized equations of motion are not burdened with the need to specify infinitely many initial conditions. The reason is the inherent link between the fakeonic system and the parent higher-derivative local system: the solution space of the former is an appropriate subspace of solutions of the latter. A somewhat unexpected proviso is that, in order to avoid overcounting, the fakeon prescription must be obtained as a limit or special case of a more generic prescription. Ultimately, the set of degrees of freedom matches physical expectations, the extra ones (ghosts or otherwise) being removed by rendering them purely virtual. We illustrate the counting in simple linear solvable models and provide the general proof. Along similar lines, we analyze Dirac’s removal of runaway solutions in classical electrodynamics.