Gravitational contribution to fermion masses

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in a nonlinear gauge theory of the Poincaré group, fermions acquire a universal background mass contribution through covariant derivatives involving translational connections.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism where translational connections in a nonlinear Poincaré gauge theory contribute universally to fermion masses.

Findings

Fermions have a universal background mass from translational connections.

The matter action includes a new coupling to translational gauge fields.

The approach links gravity and fermion mass generation.

Abstract

In the context of a nonlinear gauge theory of the Poincar\'e group, we show that covariant derivatives of Dirac fields include a coupling to the translational connections, manifesting itself in the matter action as a universal background mass contribution to fermions.