Publication posthume par un fantôme

Il y a des chercheurs jaloux des ordres d'apparition dans les co-auteurs mais il y a aussi l'histoire inverse où un co-auteur était un fantôme : c'est une histoire de rédaction d'article après la mort, avec apparition du spectre ("simulacrum") de Thomas Trobaugh (Orsay) d'un article de mathématiques paru dans le Festschrift pour Grothendieck, raconté ici :

(...) the paper "Higher algebraic K-theory of schemes and of derived categories" by R. W. Thomason and Thomas Trobaugh, which Thomason wrote with his deceased friend Trobaugh after Trobaugh appeared to him in a dream:

"The first author must state that his coauthor and close friend, Tom Trobaugh, quite intelligent, singularly original, and inordinately generous, killed himself consequent to endogenous depression.

Ninety-four days later, in my dream, Tom's simulacrum remarked, 'The direct limit characterization of perfect complexes shows that they extend, just as one extends a coherent sheaf.'

Awaking with a start, I knew this idea had to be wrong, since some perfect complexes have a non-vanishing K_0 obstruction to extension. I had worked on this problem for 3 years, and saw this approach to be hopeless. But Tom's simulacrum had been so insistent, I knew he wouldn't let me sleep undisturbed until I had worked out the argument and could point to the gap. This work quickly led to the key results of this paper. To Tom, I could have explained why he must be listed as a coauthor."