Gauge-Invariant Quantum Gravity Corrections to Gauge Couplings via Vilkovisky-DeWitt Method and Gravity Assisted Gauge Unification

TL;DR

This paper uses the Vilkovisky-DeWitt method to derive gauge-invariant gravitational corrections to gauge couplings, showing they promote unification at the Planck scale and affect the Higgs sector.

Contribution

It introduces the first gauge-invariant derivation of gravitational power-law corrections to gauge couplings using the Vilkovisky-DeWitt method, demonstrating their role in gauge unification.

Findings

Gravitational corrections make gauge interactions asymptotically free.

Universal power-law runnings assist gauge unification near the Planck scale.

Modified triviality bounds on the Higgs boson mass are derived.

Abstract

Gravity is the weakest force in nature, and the gravitational interactions with all standard model (SM) particles can be well described by perturbative expansions of the Einstein-Hilbert action as an effective theory, all the way up to energies below the fundamental Planck scale. We use Vilkovisky-DeWitt method to derive the first gauge-invariant nonzero gravitational power-law corrections to the running of gauge couplings, which make both Abel and non-Abel gauge interactions asymptotically free. We further demonstrate that the graviton-induced universal power-law runnings always assist the three SM gauge forces to reach unification around the Planck scale, irrespective of the detail of logarithmic corrections. We also compute the power-law corrections to the SM Higgs sector and derive modified triviality bound on the Higgs boson mass.