The Fröhlich-Morchio-Strocchi mechanism and quantum gravity
Axel Maas
SciPost Phys. 8, 051 (2020) · published 6 April 2020
- doi: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.8.4.051
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Abstract
Taking manifest invariance under both gauge symmetry and diffeomorphisms as a guiding principle physical objects are constructed for Yang-Mills-Higgs theory coupled to quantum gravity. These objects are entirely classified by quantum numbers defined in the tangent space. Applying the Fr\"ohlich-Morchio-Strocchi mechanism to these objects reveals that they coincide with ordinary correlation functions in quantum-field theory, if quantum fluctuations of gravity and curvature become small. Taking these descriptions literally exhibits how quantum gravity fields need to dress quantum fields to create physical objects, i.e. giving a graviton component to ordinary observed particles. The same mechanism provides access to the physical spectrum of pure gravitational degrees of freedom.