Macroscopic Signatures of Gauge-Mediated Contagion: Deriving Behavioral Shielding from Stochastic Field Theory

TL;DR

This paper develops a unified field-theoretic model linking microscopic epidemic dynamics with macroscopic population behavior, revealing how gauge fields and symmetry breaking influence herd immunity and spatial disease spread.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gauge-mediated contagion framework using stochastic field theory to derive macroscopic epidemic equations with behavioral shielding effects.

Findings

Derives a dynamic herd immunity threshold via Coleman-Weinberg mechanism.

Shows spatial 'Fear Drift' and shielding penalties affect disease transmission.

Validates the model with high-resolution COVID-19 data from Germany.

Abstract

We present a unified theoretical model relating stochastic microscopic epidemic dynamics with macroscopic non-linear population behavior. Utilizing the Doi-Peliti formalism, we model the pathogen as a gauge mediator field coupled to susceptible and infected host populations, and introduce a Reactive Immunity Field capable of spontaneous symmetry breaking. We demonstrate that the naive epidemic vacuum is destabilized by radiative loop corrections via the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism, generating a dynamic herd immunity threshold. By extracting the classical saddle-point limit of the Effective Action, we derive the macroscopic reaction-diffusion equations governing the host population. We show that integrating out the gauge mediator inherently generates a thermodynamic Free Energy dependent on the square of the susceptible density. This non-linearity produces a macroscopic spatial ``Fear Drift'' proportional to the magnitude of the immunity field, and a cubic shielding penalty in the effective reproductive number ($R_{eff}$). In this work, we establish a mapping between fundamental field-theoretic mechanisms and specific terms in the macroscopic behavioral equations. We demonstrate that Debye screening is physically executed by the spatial cross-diffusion fluxes driving host evacuation. Simultaneously, vacuum polarization manifests as a non-linear cubic penalty ($-S^3 I$) in the dressed reaction rate that dynamically suppresses the effective reproductive number. As a validation of our model, we apply the formalism to high-resolution spatiotemporal COVID-19 data from Germany.