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Physicists Develop Novel Quantum Theory of Gravity
SCI News ^ | May 06, 2025 | Staff

Posted on 05/07/2025 7:04:03 AM PDT by Red Badger

The new theory, developed by physicists at Aalto University, describes gravity in a way that’s compatible with the Standard Model of particle physics, opening the door to an improved understanding of how the Universe began.

The Standard Model of particle physics describes electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions, which are three of the four known fundamental forces of nature. The unification of the fourth interaction, gravity, with the Standard Model has been challenging due to incompatibilities of the underlying theories — general relativity and quantum field theory. While quantum field theory utilizes compact, finite-dimensional symmetries associated with the internal degrees of freedom of quantum fields, general relativity is based on noncompact, infinite-dimensional external space-time symmetries. Mikko Partanen & Jukka Tulkki aim at deriving the gauge theory of gravity using compact, finite-dimensional symmetries in a way that resembles the formulation of the fundamental interactions of the Standard Model. Image credit: DESY / Science Communication Lab.

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“If this turns out to lead to a complete quantum field theory of gravity, then eventually it will give answers to the very difficult problems of understanding singularities in black holes and the Big Bang,” said Aalto University’s Dr. Mikko Partanen.

“A theory that coherently describes all fundamental forces of nature is often called the Theory of Everything.”

“Some fundamental questions of physics still remain unanswered. For example, the present theories do not yet explain why there is more matter than antimatter in the observable Universe.”

The key was finding a way to describe gravity in a suitable gauge theory — a kind of theory in which particles interact with each other through a field.

“The most familiar gauge field is the electromagnetic field,” said Aalto University’s Dr. Jukka Tulkki.

“When electrically charged particles interact with each other, they interact through the electromagnetic field, which is the pertinent gauge field.”

“So when we have particles which have energy, the interactions they have just because they have energy would happen through the gravitational field.”

A challenge long facing physicists is finding a gauge theory of gravity that is compatible with the gauge theories of the other three fundamental forces — the electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force and the strong nuclear force.

The Standard Model of particle physics is a gauge theory which describes those three forces, and it has certain symmetries.

“The main idea is to have a gravity gauge theory with a symmetry that is similar to the Standard Model symmetries, instead of basing the theory on the very different kind of spacetime symmetry of general relativity,” Dr. Partanen said.

Without such a theory, physicists cannot reconcile our two most powerful theories, quantum field theory and general relativity.

Quantum theory describes the world of the very small — tiny particles interacting in probabilistic ways — while general relativity describes the chunkier world of familiar objects and their gravitational interaction.

They are descriptions of our Universe from different perspectives, and both theories have been confirmed to extraordinary precision — yet they are incompatible with each other.

Furthermore, because gravitational interactions are weak, more precision is needed to study true quantum gravity effects beyond general relativity, which is a classical theory.

“A quantum theory of gravity is needed to understand what kind of phenomena there are in cases where there’s a gravitational field and high energies,” Dr. Partanen said.

“Those are the conditions around black holes and in the very early Universe, just after the Big Bang — areas where existing theories in physics stop working.”

“Always fascinated with the very big questions of physics, we discovered a new symmetry-based approach to the theory of gravity and began to develop the idea.”

“The resulting work has great potential to unlock a whole new era of scientific understanding, in much the same way as understanding gravity paved the way to eventually creating GPS.”

Although the theory is promising, the duo point out that they have not yet completed its proof.

The theory uses a technical procedure known as renormalization, a mathematical way of dealing with infinities that show up in the calculations.

So far Dr. Partanen and Dr. Tulkki have shown that this works up to a certain point — for so-called ‘first order’ terms — but they need to make sure the infinities can be eliminated throughout the entire calculation.

“If renormalization doesn’t work for higher order terms, you’ll get infinite results,” Dr. Tulkki said.

“So it’s vital to show that this renormalization continues to work.”

“We still have to make a complete proof, but we believe it’s very likely we’ll succeed.”

“There are still challenges ahead, but with time and effort he expects they’ll be overcome,” Dr. Partanen said.

“I can’t say when, but I can say we’ll know much more about that in a few years.”

The team’s paper was published in the journal Reports on Progress in Physics.

_____

Mikko Partanen & Jukka Tulkki. 2025.

Gravity generated by four one-dimensional unitary gauge symmetries and the Standard Model. Rep. Prog. Phys 88, 057802;

doi: 10.1088/1361-6633/adc82e


TOPICS: Astronomy; Education; History; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: astronomy; gravity; loopquantumgravity; physics; quantumgravity; quantummechanics; science; stringtheory
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1 posted on 05/07/2025 7:04:03 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Makes sense to me.


2 posted on 05/07/2025 7:09:38 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Donate! Don't just post clickbait!)
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To: Red Badger
Maybe this explains what happened to me the other day...

(Gravity shift)

3 posted on 05/07/2025 7:09:42 AM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: Red Badger
I blame the study of gravity for the advent of cat juggling...
4 posted on 05/07/2025 7:16:27 AM PDT by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic... )
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To: Red Badger
Although the theory is promising, the duo point out that they have not yet completed its proof

“I can’t say when, but I can say we’ll know much more about that in a few years.”

We need another grant.

5 posted on 05/07/2025 7:16:31 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
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To: Red Badger
"“If this turns out to lead to a complete quantum field theory of gravity, then eventually it will may give answers to the very difficult problems of understanding singularities in black holes and the Big Bang,” said Aalto University’s Dr. Mikko Partanen.
6 posted on 05/07/2025 7:19:28 AM PDT by plain talk
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To: 6SJ7; AdmSmith; AFPhys; Arkinsaw; allmost; aristotleman; autumnraine; bajabaja; ...
Thanks RB.


· List topics · post a topic · subscribe · Google ·

7 posted on 05/07/2025 7:19:31 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: MtnClimber; rktman; mowowie; SuperLuminal; Cottonbay; telescope115; laplata

A quantum of Ping!...................


8 posted on 05/07/2025 7:20:56 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: plain talk

It will never answer the question of how everything came from nothing................


9 posted on 05/07/2025 7:22:39 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Red Badger

I’m a retired mechanic engineer and have had a lifelong interest in science, physics and chemistry.

However, articles on quantum mechanics remind me of this parody.

https://m.youtube.com/wat


10 posted on 05/07/2025 7:27:28 AM PDT by sjmjax
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To: Red Badger

Address: Otakaari 1, 02150 Espoo, Finland


11 posted on 05/07/2025 7:27:52 AM PDT by leopud
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To: Red Badger

That’s why credit cards were invented.


12 posted on 05/07/2025 7:28:14 AM PDT by Laslo Fripp (Does anybody proofread anymore?)
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To: Red Badger

Black holes, big bangs.......🤔🚀


13 posted on 05/07/2025 7:30:27 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: sjmjax

Try again!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7G7xOG2Ag


14 posted on 05/07/2025 7:31:28 AM PDT by sjmjax
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To: Red Badger

Any physics that includes the “Big Bang” is doomed to blow up in our faces.


15 posted on 05/07/2025 7:31:34 AM PDT by cgbg (It was not us. It was them--all along.)
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To: sjmjax

Nothing there.........................


16 posted on 05/07/2025 7:32:49 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: sjmjax

Nothing there.........................


17 posted on 05/07/2025 7:32:49 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Magnum44

I understand Kitty Vids!
.
They Love Gravity.


18 posted on 05/07/2025 7:49:29 AM PDT by Big Red Badger (ALL Things Will be Revealed !)
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To: Red Badger
""four one-dimensional unitary gauge symmetries"

I know, understand, and use each of these six words regularly. Yet combining them and using them together in this manner, without describing what is meant makes this phrase utter nonsense. This continues throughout the whole article. It makes me wonder if this whole paper is an AI created spoof. As Einstein once said: "If you can't explain it to a sixth grader, you don't understand it yourself".

19 posted on 05/07/2025 7:50:26 AM PDT by norwaypinesavage (Freud: projection is a defense mechanism of those struggling with inferiority complexes)
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To: sjmjax

Funny. Tha narrator, having to keep a straight face, was excellent. Thanks.


20 posted on 05/07/2025 7:54:22 AM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and harder to find. )
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