paper

Classical spacetime as a gravitational condensate: USMEG-EFT emergence in comparison to Verlinde's entropic gravity

arXiv:2609.09173 · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2026.140803

Abstract

We present a derivation showing that classical spacetime geometry is a \emph{gravitational condensate} within the Unified Standard Model with Emergent Gravity--Effective Field Theory (USMEG-EFT): the background metric $\barg_{μν}$ is the vacuum expectation value of the quantum metric operator, existing as an ordered phase below the gravitational breakdown scale $\Lgrav \sim 10^{18}$\,GeV. The condensed phase is characterized by a nondegenerate metric expectation value, a diffeomorphism-invariant criterion whose controlled realization is confined to scales below $\Lgrav$. Three convergent quantum-field-theoretic analyses within the framework, namely canonical covariance breakdown \cite{Chishtie23}, one-loop renormalization group analysis \cite{Chishtie25CJP}, and conditional BRST closure \cite{ChishtieSymmetry26}, identify this scale as the boundary of the controlled geometric description. We show that the condensate order parameter, defined via the Legendre transform of the Lagrange multiplier path integral \cite{BrandtFrenkelMcKeon20,McKeonBrandt25}, satisfies a quantum-corrected saddle-point equation whose one-loop correction grows to the size of the tree term at $\Lgrav$, beyond which the framework supplies no controlled nondegenerate solution; we interpret this boundary as the onset of condensate dissolution. Because the Lagrange multiplier constraint acts on virtual graviton fluctuations and terminates the gravitational sector exactly at one loop, this boundary arises from a finite, closed set of quantum corrections, in contrast to the gradual failure of the derivative expansion in the standard effective field theory treatment of general relativity \cite{Donoghue94}. This mechanism is fundamentally distinct from, and resolves known inconsistencies of, Verlinde's entropic gravity programme.

8 pages, published version at Physics Letters B

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