Background-Independent Composite Gravity

TL;DR

This paper proposes a background-independent composite gravity theory where Einstein's equations emerge as a consistency condition, with gravitational interactions arising from vacuum correlations, maintaining diffeomorphism invariance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel background-independent approach to composite gravity, linking vacuum expectation values to Einstein's equations and exploring implications for observable definitions.

Findings

Vacuum expectation value satisfies Einstein's equations with corrections.

Gravitational interactions emerge from vacuum correlation functions.

Diffeomorphism invariance is preserved in the perturbative framework.

Abstract

We explore a background-independent theory of composite gravity. The vacuum expectation value of the composite metric satisfies Einstein's equations (with corrections) as a consistency condition, and selects the vacuum spacetime. A gravitational interaction then emerges in vacuum correlation functions. The action remains diffeomorphism invariant even as perturbation theory is organized about the dynamically selected vacuum spacetime. We discuss the role of nondynamical clock and rod fields in the analysis, the identification of physical observables, and the generalization to other theories including the standard model.