On the nature of quantum gravity

Abstract

It was recently advanced the argument that Unruh effect emerges from the study of quantum field theory in quantum space-time. Quantum space-time is identified with the Hilbert space of a new kind of quantum fields, the accelerated fields, which are defined in momentum space. In this work, we argue that the interactions between such fields offer a clear distinction between flat and curved space-times. Free accelerated fields are associated with flat spacetime, while interacting accelerated fields with curved spacetimes. Our intuition that quantum gravity arises via field interactions is verified by invoking quantum statistics. Studying the Unruh-like effect of accelerated fields, we show that any massive object behaves as a black body at temperature which is inversely proportional to its mass, radiating space-time quanta. With a heuristic argument, it is shown that Hawking radiation naturally arises in a theory in which space-time is quantized. Finally, in terms of thermodynamics, gravity can be identified with an entropic force guaranteed by the second law of thermodynamics.