Autocatalysis of Graviton Production via the Gertsenshtein Effect for the Yang-Mills Field

TL;DR

This paper explores how self-interactions in the Yang-Mills SU(2) field can induce autocatalytic mixing with gravitons, analogous to the Gertsenshtein effect, leading to symmetry breaking and mass acquisition.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Yang-Mills self-interactions can replace external magnetic fields to catalyze graviton production, revealing a novel mechanism for gauge-gravity interactions.

Findings

Yang-Mills self-interactions catalyze graviton mixing.

Rotational symmetry is broken in the process.

Yang-Mills boson acquires mass through this mechanism.

Abstract

As shown by Gertsenshtein in 1961, an external magnetic field can couple electromagnetic to gravitational waves, giving rise to oscillations between them. Viewed as a quantum process, the magnetic field has catalyzed the mixing of photon and graviton states. We show that the self-interaction terms of the Yang-Mills SU(2) field can take the place of the external magnetic field and autocatalyze the mixing of Yang-Mills bosons and gravitons. In the process, rotational symmetry is broken and the Yang-Mills boson acquires a mass.