Emergent gravity from off-shell energy fixing

TL;DR

This paper proposes that fixing the energy-momentum tensor off-shell in quantum field theory leads to the emergence of a gravity-like quantum field, providing a new perspective on quantum gravity without initial dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces the Fixed Off-Shell Energy Condition (FOSEC) and demonstrates its role in deriving a linear gravity-like theory from quantum field theory.

Findings

FOSEC implies a gravity-like quantum field emerges.

In special cases, the theory reduces to Poincaré gauge theory.

The approach offers a new pathway to quantum gravity.

Abstract

Off-shell processes do not preserve the Energy Momentum Tensor (EMT) in QFT. Fixing the EMT throughout off-shell processes, implies a graviton-like quantum field to emerge without dynamics. Its dynamics are generated through quantum corrections. This Fixed Off-Shell Energy Condition (FOSEC) implies the existence of a linear gravity-like theory, and in special cases the full Poincar\`e gauge theory. In this work it is shown that imposing the FOSEC in QFT implies the emergence of a viable quantum theory of gravity.