't Hooft omni-theory proposal looks testable

[marcus]

This is a proposal for a quantum theory of gravity and matter in which all physical parameters are determined and calculable---all masses and coupling constants, including also the cosmological constant as well.

John86 spotted the paper and added it to our non-string QG bibliography thread:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1011.0061
The Conformal Constraint in Canonical Quantum Gravity
Gerard 't Hooft
15 pages.
(Submitted on 30 Oct 2010)
"Perturbative canonical quantum gravity is considered, when coupled to a renormalizable model for matter fields. It is proposed that the functional integral over the dilaton field should be disentangled from the other integrations over the metric fields. This should generate a conformally invariant theory as an intermediate result, where the conformal anomalies must be constrained to cancel out. When the residual metric is treated as a background, and if this background is taken to be flat, this leads to a novel constraint: in combination with the dilaton contributions, the matter lagrangian should have a vanishing beta function. The zeros of this beta function are isolated points in the landscape of quantum field theories, and so we arrive at a denumerable, or perhaps even finite, set of quantum theories for matter, where not only the coupling constants, but also the masses and the cosmological constant are all fixed, and computable, in terms of the Planck units."

 

[marcus]

On first sight, I gather that the theory does not allow SUSY, and it appears to predict stuff which would allow it to be falsified by feasible experiment or practical observation.

The present development, at least, requires specifying a flat background. Gerard 't Hooft frankly points out the pros and cons of the proposal. It has both advantages and disadvantages, as well as some fundamentally novel aspects. I get the impression that whether right or wrong it could be valuable to investigate.

The present paper was preceded by an earlier one pointing in this direction, posted in September:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.0669
Probing the small distance structure of canonical quantum gravity using the conformal group
Gerard 't Hooft
22 pages, 1 figure.
(Submitted on 3 Sep 2010)
"In canonical quantum gravity, the formal functional integral includes an integration over the local conformal factor, and we propose to perform the functional integral over this factor before doing any of the other functional integrals. By construction, the resulting effective theory would be expected to be conformally invariant and therefore finite. However, also the conformal integral itself diverges, and the effects of a renormalization counter term are considered. It generates problems such as unitarity violation, due to a Landau-like ghost, and conformal anomalies. Adding (massive or massless) matter fields does not change the picture. Various alternative ideas are offered, including a more daring speculation, which is that no counter term should be allowed for at all. This has far-reaching and important consequences, which we discuss. A surprising picture emerges of quantized elementary particles interacting with a gravitational field, in particular gravitons, which are "partly classical". This approach was inspired by a search towards the reconciliation of Hawking radiation with unitarity and locality, and it offers basic new insights there."

 

[czes]

"where not only the coupling constants, but also the masses and the cosmological constant are all fixed, and computable, in terms of the Planck units."
Isn't it an idea that each interaction between non-local quantum information causes a Planck length and time dilation ?
The space emerges then as a set of chains of events in Planck's units created by interfering Compton waves.
I am under impression how the modern physics depends on a quantum information.