Response to Shalaby's Comment on "Families of Particles with Different Masses in PT-Symmetric Quantum Field Theory"

TL;DR

This paper refutes Shalaby's criticism of their previous work on PT-symmetric quantum field theory, demonstrating that his arguments are flawed and based on incorrect methods and interpretations.

Contribution

The authors clarify and defend their original results by identifying and explaining flaws in Shalaby's critique, reaffirming the validity of their findings.

Findings

Shalaby's variational approach is invalid

His physical interpretation is incorrect

The original results remain correct and unchallenged

Abstract

In a recent Comment [arXiv: 1101.3980] Shalaby criticised our paper "Families of Particles with Different Masses in PT-Symmetric Quantum Field Theory" [arXiv:1002.3253]. On examining his arguments, we find that there are serious flaws at almost every stage of his Comment. In view of space and time considerations, we point out the major flaws that render his arguments invalid. Essentially Shalaby is attempting to obtain our results from a variational principle and to find a physical interpretation of his calculation. The variational procedure that he uses is inapplicable, and his description of the physics is wrong. We thus refute his criticism on all levels.