Physicists Develop Novel Quantum Theory of Gravity

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...