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THE QUANTUM WAVES OF MINKOWSKI SPACETIME AND THE MINIMAL ACCELERATION FROM PRECANONICAL QUANTUM GRAVITY

I V Kanatchikov National Quantum Information Centre in Gdansk (KCIK), 80-309 Gdańsk, Poland
IAS-Archimedes Project, Côte d’Azur, France
Abstract

We construct the simplest solutions of the previously obtained precanonical Schrödinger equation for quantum gravity, which correspond to the plane waves on the spin connection bundle and reproduce the Minkowski spacetime on average. Quantum fluctuations lead to the emergence of the minimal acceleration a0a_{0} related to the range of the Yukawa modes in the fibers of the spin connection bundle. This minimal acceleration is proportional to the square root of the cosmological constant Λ\Lambda generated by the operator re-ordering in the precanonical Schrödinger equation. Thus the mysterious connection between the minimal acceleration a0a_{0} in the dynamics of galaxies as described by Milgrom’s MOND and the cosmological constant emerges as an elementary effect of precanonical quantum gravity. We also argue that the observable values of a0a_{0} and Λ\Lambda can be obtained when the scale of the parameter ϰ\varkappa introduced by precanonical quantization is subnuclear, in agreement with the previously established connection between the scale of ϰ\varkappa and the mass gap in quantum SU(2) Yang-Mills theory.

1 Introduction

The approaches to quantum gravity based on applying the standard methods of quantization to different versions of the gravitational Lagrangian [2, 3] almost inevitably lead to fundamental conceptual and technical problems of quantum gravity, such as the mathematical definition of the Wheeler-De Witt equation, the problem of time, the interpretation of (the measurement problem in) quantum cosmology, the problem of the correct classical limit in the loop quantum gravity, and the 122 orders of magnitude discrepancy between the theoretically plausible value of the cosmological constant and the observable one.

The approach called precanonical quantization [4, 5, 6, 7, 8] was proposed as a response to these problems. It departs from the various forms of canonical quantization, which are based on the canonical Hamiltonian formalism with a necessarily distinguished time variable, and instead uses a spacetime symmetric generalization of the Hamiltonian formalism from mechanics to field theory known in the calculus of variations under the name of the De Donder-Weyl (DW) Hamiltonian formulation [10, 11, 9]. The precanonical quantization is based on the Dirac quantization of the Heisenberg-like subalgebra of Poisson-Gerstenhaber brackets of differential forms representing dynamical variables, which were found in the DW Hamiltonian formulation in [12, 13, 14, 15, 7] and further explored and generalized e.g. in [16, 17, 18, 19].

Quantization of brackets defined on differential forms naturally leads to a hypercomplex generalization of quantum theory where operators and wave functions are Clifford-algebra-valued [5, 6, 7, 8]. The Clifford algebra in question is the complexified Clifford algebra of spacetime. The DW Hamiltonian formulation and the quantization of Poisson-Gerstenhaber brackets of differential forms are spacetime symmetric by construction. No distinction between space and time variables is required. No notion of field configurations or their initial or boundary data, i. e. the sections of the bundle whose base is spacetime and whose fibers are spaces where the fields take values, is required by the procedure of precanonical quantization. The quantum dynamics of fields is described using the sections of the Clifford bundle over the bundle of field variables ϕa\phi^{a} over the spacetime with the coordinates xμx^{\mu}. These sections are called precanonical wave functions and, in general, have the form (in n=1+3n=1+3 dimensions)

Ψ(ϕa,xμ)=ψ+ψμγμ+12!ψμνγμν++14!ψμ1μ2μ4γμ1μ2μ4.\Psi(\phi^{a},x^{\mu})=\psi+\psi_{\mu}\gamma^{\mu}+\frac{1}{2!}\psi_{\mu\nu}\gamma^{\mu\nu}+...+\frac{1}{4!}\psi_{\mu_{1}\mu_{2}...\mu_{4}}\gamma^{\mu_{1}\mu_{2}...\mu_{4}}. (1)

The field variables ϕa\phi^{a} can be the Yang-Mills field variables AμaA_{\mu}^{a} [8, 20, 21, 22] or metric density variables hμνh^{\mu\nu} [23, 24, 25, 26], or tetrad variables eμIe^{I}_{\mu} [27], or spin connection variables ωμIJ\omega_{\mu}^{IJ} [28, 29, 30, 31, 32]. The covariant analogue of the Schrödinger equation for the precanonical wave function has the form [23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32]

iϰ∇̸^ΨH^Ψ=0,i\hbar\varkappa\hat{\not{\nabla}}\Psi-\hat{H}\Psi=0, (2)

where H^\hat{H} is the operator of the covariant analogue of the Hamiltonian in the DW Hamiltonian-like formulation:

H:=μϕapϕaμL,pϕaμ:=Lμϕa,H:=\partial_{\mu}{\phi^{a}}p^{\mu}_{\phi^{a}}-L,\quad p^{\mu}_{\phi^{a}}:=\frac{\partial L}{\partial\partial_{\mu}\phi^{a}}, (3)

∇̸^\hat{\not{\nabla}} is the operator of the covariant Dirac operator on the spacetime, and the parameter ϰ\varkappa is an ultraviolet quantity of the dimension of the inverse spatial volume. It appears on purely dimensional grounds given the fact that the physical dimension of classical HH is that of the mass density (in c=1c=1 units used throughout the paper). Note that ϰ\varkappa is also introduced in the course of the precanonical quantization when the Poisson-Gerstenhaber brackets are replaced by commutators, and the representation of operators corresponding to differential forms is constructed in terms of Clifford-algebra-valued operators. In particular, the 3-dimensional volume element d𝐱:=dx1dx2dx3d{\mathbf{x}}:=dx^{1}\wedge dx^{2}\wedge dx^{3} is mapped to the Clifford algebra element

d𝐱1ϰγ¯0,d{\mathbf{x}}\mapsto\frac{1}{\varkappa}\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}_{0}, (4)

where γ¯I\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}_{I} denote the flat spacetime Dirac matrices, γ¯Iγ¯J+γ¯Jγ¯I=2ηIJ\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}_{I}\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}_{J}+\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}_{J}\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}_{I}=2\eta_{IJ}, I,J=0,1,2,3I,J=0,1,2,3. This map is very similar to what is known as the “quantization map” or “Chevalley map” in the Clifford algebra literature.

The relation between the description of quantum fields in terms of Clifford-algebra-valued precanonical wave functions Ψ(ϕa,xμ)\Psi(\phi^{a},x^{\mu}) and the standard QFT can be established if the latter is formulated in the Schrödinger functional picture [33]. In this picture, QFT is described in terms of time-dependent functionals of initial field configurations ϕa(𝐱)\phi^{a}({\mathbf{x}}), 𝚿([ϕa(𝐱)],t){\bf\Psi}([\phi^{a}({\mathbf{x}})],t), which obey the canonical Schrödinger equation

it𝚿𝐇^𝚿=0,i\hbar\partial_{t}{\bf\Psi}-\hat{{\bf H}}{\bf\Psi}=0, (5)

where 𝐇^=d𝐱T^00\hat{{\bf H}}=\int\!d{\mathbf{x}}\hat{T}{}^{0}_{0} is the operator of the canonical Hamiltonian.

Taking into account that the precanonical wave function Ψ(ϕa,xμ)\Psi(\phi^{a},x^{\mu}) gives the probability amplitude of detecting the field value ϕ\phi at the spacetime point xx and the Schrödinger wave functional 𝚿([ϕa(𝐱)],t){\bf\Psi}([\phi^{a}({\mathbf{x}})],t) is the probability amplitude of observing the field configuration ϕ(𝐱)\phi({\mathbf{x}}) on the hypersurface of constant time tt, one can anticipate that the Schrödinger wave functional is a continuous product, or product integral, over the spatial points 𝐱{\mathbf{x}}, of precanonical wave functions restricted to the configuration Σ\Sigma given by ϕ=ϕ(𝐱)\phi=\phi({\mathbf{x}}), i.e. ΨΣ(ϕ=ϕ(𝐱),𝐱,t)\Psi_{\Sigma}(\phi=\phi({\mathbf{x}}),{\mathbf{x}},t), and transformed from the representation with a diagonal H^\hat{H} to the representation with a diagonal T^00=H^iϕa(𝐱)p^ϕai\hat{T}^{0}_{0}=\hat{H}-{\partial_{i}\phi^{a}({\mathbf{x}})\hat{p}{}^{i}_{\phi_{a}}}. The resulting expression of the Schrödinger wave functional 𝚿{\bf\Psi} in terms of the precanonical wave functions Ψ\Psi is given by the continuous product or the Volterra product integral over 𝐱{\mathbf{x}} denoted as \prodi𝐱\prodi_{\mathbf{x}}:

𝚿=𝖳𝗋{\Prodi𝐱eiϕ(𝐱)γiiϕ(𝐱)/ϰΨΣ(ϕ(𝐱),𝐱,t)} |1ϰγ¯0d𝐱,{\bf\Psi}={\sf Tr}\left\{\Prodi_{\mathbf{x}}e^{-i\phi({\mathbf{x}})\gamma^{i}\partial_{i}\phi({\mathbf{x}})/\varkappa}\Psi_{\Sigma}(\phi({\mathbf{x}}),{\mathbf{x}},t){}_{\mbox{ $\rvert$}\scriptscriptstyle\frac{1}{\varkappa}\mapsto\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}^{0}d{\mathbf{x}}}\right\}, (6)

where the inverse of the quantization map (4) is used as a natural step of transformation from the Clifford algebraic objects of precanonical quantization to the \mathbb{C}-valued functional of the canonical quantum field theory in the Schrödinger representation. In [35, 36] we have shown, for interacting scalar fields in Minkowski spacetime that 𝚿{\bf\Psi} constructed in equation (6) satisfies the standard Schrödinger equation (5) as a consequence of (the flat spacetime version of) the precanonical Schrödinger equation (2) restricted to the surface of initial data ϕa=ϕa(𝐱)\phi^{a}=\phi^{a}({\mathbf{x}}) at the moment of time tt. A similar relation has been found also for quantum Yang-Mills theory on Minkowski spacetime [20, 22] and for scalar fields on curved spacetime [37, 38, 39]. The existence of this relationship shows that standard QFT based on canonical quantization is the limiting case of QFT based on precanonical quantization corresponding to the inverse quantization map 1ϰγ¯0d𝐱\frac{1}{\varkappa}\underline{\gamma\!}{\,}_{0}\mapsto d{\mathbf{x}} or, loosely speaking, to the limiting case of infinite ϰ\varkappa corresponding to the unregularized volume of the momentum space, which equals δ3(𝟎)\delta^{3}(\mathbf{0}).

Let us also note that the existence of the spacetime symmetric Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) theory of fields which is associated with the DW Hamiltonian theory [10, 11, 9, 41, 42, 43] raises a question about the existence of a formulation of quantum field theories which reproduces the DW HJ theory in the classical limit. The precanonical quantization leads to such a formulation, at least in the case of scalar fields (cf. [5, 44]).

In the previous papers, the precanonical quantization has been applied to general relativity in metric variables [23, 24, 25, 26], to the teleparallel equivalent of general relativity [27], and to general relativity in vielbein variables [28, 29, 30, 31, 32]. In this paper, we will briefly outline the latter in Section 2 and then, in Section 3, construct the solutions of the precanonical Schrödinger equation for quantum gravity corresponding to the quantum version of Minkowski spacetime in Cartesian coordinates. We will find that quantum effects lead to the emergence of minimal acceleration related to the range of the Yukawa modes of the precanonical wave function in the spin-connection space. We will show that this minimal acceleration is related to the square root of the cosmological constant. The latter appears from the reordering of operators in the precanonical Schrödinger equation for gravity. We will also obtain realistic estimations of both quantities, albeit with an error of several orders of magnitude, when the scale of the parameter ϰ\varkappa is below approximately 100 MeV, which is consistent with our previous rough estimation of the mass gap in the quantum SU(2) gauge theory [21].

2 Precanonical quantum vielbein gravity

In this section, we mainly collect together the key results from our previous considerations in [28, 29, 30, 31]. The construction of precanonical quantum vielbein gravity starts from the Einstein-Palatini Lagrangian density

𝔏=18πG𝔢eI[αeJβ](αωβIJ+ωαωβKIK)J+18πGΛ𝔢,{\mathfrak{L}}=\frac{1}{8\pi G}{\mathfrak{e}}e^{[\alpha}_{I}e^{\beta]}_{J}(\partial_{\alpha}\omega_{\beta}^{IJ}+\omega_{\alpha}{}^{IK}\omega_{\beta K}{}^{J})+\frac{1}{8\pi G}\Lambda{\mathfrak{e}}, (7)

where the vielbein coefficients eIαe^{\alpha}_{I} and the spin connection coefficients ωαIK\omega_{\alpha}{}^{IK} are the independent field variables, and 𝔢:=det(eμI){\mathfrak{e}}:=\det(e^{I}_{\mu}). The DW Hamiltonian formulation leads to the constraints

𝔭:=ωβIJα𝔏αωβIJ18πG𝔢eI[αeJβ],𝔭:=eβIα𝔏αeβI0{\mathfrak{p}}{}^{\alpha}_{\omega_{\beta}^{IJ}}:=\frac{\partial{\mathfrak{L}}}{\partial\,\partial_{\alpha}{\omega_{\beta}^{IJ}}}\approx\frac{1}{8\pi G}{\mathfrak{e}}e^{[\alpha}_{I}e^{\beta]}_{J},\quad{\mathfrak{p}}{}^{\alpha}_{e^{I}_{\beta}}:=\frac{\partial{\mathfrak{L}}}{\partial\,\partial_{\alpha}e^{I}_{\beta}}\approx 0 (8)

and the DW Hamiltonian density on the surface of constraints

:=𝔭ωω+𝔭ee𝔏𝔭ωαωβIJαωβKIKJ18πGΛ𝔢.{\mathfrak{H}}:={\mathfrak{p}}{}_{\omega}\partial\omega+{\mathfrak{p}}{}_{e}\partial e-{\mathfrak{L}}\approx-{\mathfrak{p}}{}^{\alpha}_{\omega_{\beta}^{IJ}}\omega_{\alpha}{}^{IK}\omega_{\beta K}{}^{J}-\frac{1}{8\pi G}\Lambda{\mathfrak{e}}. (9)

The constraints are second class according to the extension of the Dirac classification to the DW theory [40]. The calculation of the generalized Dirac brackets of forms representing the fundamental variables leads to the vanishing brackets of vielbeins and their polymomenta and very simple brackets of spin connection coefficients and their polymomenta, e.g.,

{[𝔭eα,eϖα]}D=0,\displaystyle\{[{\mathfrak{p}}^{\alpha}_{e},e^{\prime}\varpi_{\alpha^{\prime}}\hskip 1.4pt]\}{\!}^{D}=0,
{[pωα,ωϖβ]}D={[pωα,ωϖβ]}=δβαδωω,\displaystyle\{[p^{\alpha}_{\omega},\omega^{\prime}\varpi_{\beta}\hskip 1.4pt]\}{\!}^{D}=\{[p^{\alpha}_{\omega},\omega^{\prime}\varpi_{\beta}\hskip 1.4pt]\}=\delta^{\alpha}_{\beta}\delta^{\omega}_{\omega^{\prime}},
{[𝔭eα,𝔭ωϖα]}D={[𝔭eα,ωϖα]}D={[𝔭ωα,eϖα]}D=0,\displaystyle\!\!\{[{\mathfrak{p}}^{\alpha}_{e},{\mathfrak{p}}_{\omega}\varpi_{\alpha^{\prime}}\hskip 1.4pt]\}{\!}^{D}\!=\{[{\mathfrak{p}}^{\alpha}_{e},\omega\varpi_{\alpha^{\prime}}\hskip 1.4pt]\}{\!}^{D}\!=\{[{\mathfrak{p}}^{\alpha}_{\omega},e^{\prime}\varpi_{\alpha^{\prime}}\hskip 1.4pt]\}{\!}^{D}\!=0,\,

where ϖα:=α   dx0dx1dx3\varpi_{\alpha}:=\partial_{\alpha}\hskip 2.0pt\raisebox{-1.0pt}{\rule{6.0pt}{0.3pt}\rule{0.3pt}{8.0pt}\hskip 3.0pt}dx^{0}\wedge dx^{1}\wedge...\wedge dx^{3} is the basis of 33-forms on 44-dimensional spacetime. Quantization of these brackets according to the following generalization of Dirac’s quantization rule

[A^,B^]=i𝔢{[A,B]}D^[\hat{A},\hat{B}]=-i\hbar\widehat{\mathfrak{e}\{[A,B\hskip 1.4pt]\}{}^{D}} (10)

leads to the operator representations of the polymomenta of spin connection, the vielbeins, the DW Hamiltonian HH, such that ^=:𝔢H^\widehat{{\mathfrak{H}}}=:\widehat{{\mathfrak{e}}H}, and the quantum Dirac operator:

𝔭^ωβIJα\displaystyle\widehat{{\mathfrak{p}}}{}^{\alpha}_{\omega_{\beta}^{IJ}} =iϰ𝔢γ^ωβ]IJ[α,whereγ^:=αe^γ¯Iα,I\displaystyle=-i\hbar\varkappa{\mathfrak{e}}\hat{\gamma}{}^{[\alpha}\frac{\partial}{\partial\omega_{\beta]}^{IJ}},\quad\mathrm{where}\quad\hat{\gamma}{}^{\alpha}:=\hat{e}{}^{\alpha}_{I}\underline{\gamma\!}{}^{I}, (11)
e^Iβ\displaystyle\hat{e}{}^{\beta}_{I} =8πiGϰγ¯ωβIJJ,\displaystyle=-8\pi iG\hbar\varkappa\underline{\gamma\!}{}^{J}\frac{\partial}{\partial\omega_{\beta}^{IJ}}, (12)
H^\displaystyle\widehat{H} =8πG2ϰ2γ¯IJωαωβMKMωβKLLωαIJ18πGΛ,\displaystyle=8\pi G\hbar^{2}\varkappa^{2}\ \underline{\gamma\!}^{IJ}\omega_{\alpha}{}^{KM}\omega_{\beta M}{}^{L}\frac{\partial}{\partial\omega_{\beta}^{KL}}\frac{\partial}{\partial\omega_{\alpha}^{IJ}}-\frac{1}{8\pi G}\Lambda, (13)
∇̸^\displaystyle\widehat{\not\nabla} =8πiGϰγ¯ωμIJIJ(μ+14ωμKLγ¯KL),\displaystyle=-8\pi iG\hbar\varkappa\underline{\gamma\!}{}^{IJ}\frac{\partial}{\partial\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}}\left(\partial_{\mu}+\frac{1}{4}\,\omega_{\mu KL}\underline{\gamma\!}{}^{KL}\stackrel{{\scriptstyle\leftrightarrow}}{{\vee}}\right), (14)

where \stackrel{{\scriptstyle{\leftrightarrow}}}{{\vee}} denotes the commutator (antisymmetric) Clifford product γ¯IJΨ=12[γ¯,IJΨ].{\underline{\gamma\!}}{}^{IJ}\stackrel{{\scriptstyle\leftrightarrow}}{{\vee}}\Psi=\frac{1}{2}\left[\ \underline{\gamma\!}{}^{IJ},\Psi\ \right]. Hence the precanonical Schrödinger equation for quantum gravity takes the form

γ¯IJωμIJ(μ+14ωμKLγ¯KLωβKLωμωβMKM)LΨ(ω,x)+λΨ(ω,x)=0,{\underline{\gamma\!}{\ }^{IJ}\frac{\partial}{\partial\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}}\left(\partial_{\mu}+\frac{1}{4}\omega_{\mu KL}\underline{\gamma\!}{\ }^{KL}\stackrel{{\scriptstyle{\leftrightarrow}}}{{\vee}}-\frac{\partial}{\partial\omega_{\beta}^{KL}}\omega_{\mu}{}^{KM}\omega_{\beta M}{}^{L}\right)\Psi(\omega,x)+\lambda\Psi(\omega,x)=0,} (15)

where λ:=Λ(8πGϰ)2\lambda:=\frac{\Lambda}{(8\pi G\hbar\varkappa)^{2}} is a dimensionless combination of the fundamental constants of the theory, which depends on the operator ordering of ω\omega and ω\partial_{\omega}.

Note that equation (15) was first obtained in [28] without explicitly specifying the action of the spin connection term on the wave function. The need for the commutator product was understood later in [37], and the coefficient 12\frac{1}{2} in front of the commutator comes from the consideration of the Ehrenfest theorem similar to that in [8], which is still unpublished.

The scalar product of precanonical wave functions is given by

Φ|Ψ:=\TrΦ¯[dω]^Ψ,\left\langle\Phi|\Psi\right\rangle:=\Tr\int\overline{\Phi}\,\widehat{[d\omega]}\Psi, (16)

where Ψ¯:=γ¯Ψ0γ¯0\overline{\Psi}:=\underline{\gamma\!}{}^{0}\Psi^{\dagger}\underline{\gamma\!}{}^{0} and the operator-valued invariant integration measure on the 2424-dimensional space of spin connection coefficients

[dω]^𝔢^μIJ6dωμIJ.\widehat{[d\omega]}\sim\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-6}\prod_{\mu IJ}d\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}. (17)

The operator 𝔢^1\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-1} is constructed from the operators e^Iβ\hat{e}{}^{\beta}_{I} in (12).

Thus, we arrive at the “spin connection foam” formulation of the geometry of quantum gravity in terms of the Clifford-algebra-valued wave function on the bundle of spin connection coefficients over spacetime, Ψ(ω,x)\Psi(\omega,x), and the transition amplitudes on the total space of this bundle, ω,x|ω,x\left<\omega,x|\omega^{\prime},x^{\prime}\right>, which are the Green functions of (15). The wave function corresponds to the “quantum fuzziness” of points of the total space and the Green functions correspond to the quantum correlations between the points, i.e. a quantum analogue of the classical connection.

The normalizability of precanonical wave functions: Ψ|Ψ<\left\langle\Psi|\Psi\right\rangle<\infty, leads to the vanishing contribution of the large curvatures R=dω+ωωR=d\omega+\omega\wedge\omega to the probabilistic measure defined by the norm, and that ensures the quantum-gravitational avoidance of a curvature singularity by the precanonical wave function.

In the context of quantum cosmology, Ψ(ω,x)\Psi(\omega,x) defines the spatially homogeneous statistics of local fluctuations of the spin-connection, which is classically given by the Hubble parameter a˙/a\dot{a}/a, not the “distribution of quantum universes according to the Hubble parameter” as suggested by the picture of the superspace of 3-geometries emerging from the canonical quantization. Hence the problem of the “external observer” of the “quantum ensemble of universes” disappears.

The evolution of matter and radiation on the background of quantum gravitational fluctuations whose statistics and correlations are predicted by (15) may lead to predictable consequences for the distribution of matter and radiation at large cosmological scales, which may be observable.

In general, analysis of solutions of precanonical Schrödinger equation for quantum gravity, equation (15), is a formidable task. In the following section, we will construct the simplest solutions which can be interpreted as a quantum wave counterpart of the Minkowski spacetime.

3 Quantum wave states of Minkowski spacetime

The Minkowski metric in Cartesian coordinates:

ds2=(dx0)2(dx1)2(dx2)2(dx3)2,ds^{2}=(dx^{0})^{2}-(dx^{1})^{2}-(dx^{2})^{2}-(dx^{3})^{2},

is characterized by the vanishing spin connection coefficients

ωμIJ=0.\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}=0. (18)

In this case, the precanonical Schrödinger equation (15) with Λ=0\Lambda=0 takes the simple form

γ¯IJωμIJμΨ=0.\underline{\gamma\!}^{IJ}\partial_{\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}}\partial_{\mu}\Psi=0. (19)

In terms of the plane waves on the total space (xμ,ωμIJ)(x^{\mu},\omega_{\mu}^{IJ})

Ψeikμxμ+iπIJμωμIJΨ~(kμ,πIJμ)\Psi\sim e^{ik_{\mu}x^{\mu}+i\pi^{\mu}_{IJ}\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}}\tilde{\Psi}(k_{\mu},\pi^{\mu}_{IJ}) (20)

we obtain

γ¯IJkμπIJμ=0.\underline{\gamma\!}^{IJ}k_{\mu}\pi^{\mu}_{IJ}=0. (21)

From (21), we obtain the dispersion relation

kμπIJμkνπν=IJ0,k_{\mu}\pi^{\mu}_{IJ}k_{\nu}\pi^{\nu}{}^{IJ}=0, (22)

which reflects a strong anisotropy due to the fibred structure of the (x,ω)(x,\omega) space.

Therefore, any solution of (19) has the form

Ψ(ω,x)=d4kd24πδ(kμπIJμkνπIJν)eikμxμ+iπIJμωμIJΨ~(kμ,πIJμ).\Psi(\omega,x)=\int\!d^{4}k\!\int\!d^{24}\pi\ \delta(k_{\mu}\pi^{\mu}_{IJ}k_{\nu}\pi^{\nu}_{IJ})e^{ik_{\mu}x^{\mu}+i\pi^{\mu}_{IJ}\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}}\tilde{\Psi}(k_{\mu},\pi^{\mu}_{IJ}). (23)

The solutions of interest should be normalizable. The normalizability on the subspace of vanishing spin connection coefficients ω=0\omega=0 takes the form

\Trd24ωδ24(ω)Ψ¯(ω,x)𝔢^Ψ6(ω,x)=\Tr(Ψ¯(0,x)𝔢^Ψ6(0,x))=1,\Tr\int d^{24}\omega\,\delta^{24}(\omega)\overline{\Psi}(\omega,x)\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-6}\Psi(\omega,x)=\Tr(\overline{\Psi}(0,x)\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-6}\Psi(0,x))=1, (24)

where the short-hand notations Ψ¯(0,x)\overline{\Psi}(0,x) and 𝔢^Ψ6(0,x)\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-6}\Psi(0,x) mean Ψ¯(ω,x)\overline{\Psi}(\omega,x) and 𝔢^Ψ6(ω,x)\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-6}\Psi(\omega,x) taken at ω=0\omega=0.

The states which lead to the Minkowski spacetime on the classical level have to satisfy the conditions

g^μν(x)=\Trd24ωδ24(ω)Ψ¯(ω,x)𝔢^g^μν6Ψ(ω,x))=ημν,\langle\hat{g}^{\mu\nu}\rangle(x)=\Tr\int d^{24}\omega\delta^{24}(\omega)\overline{\Psi}(\omega,x)\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-6}\hat{g}^{\mu\nu}\Psi(\omega,x))=\eta^{\mu\nu},

where the operator of the metric derived from the representation (12) has the form

g^μν=(8πG)22ϰ2ηIKηJLωμIJωνKL.\hat{g}^{\mu\nu}=-(8\pi G)^{2}\hbar^{2}\varkappa^{2}\eta^{IK}\eta^{JL}\partial_{\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}}\partial_{\omega_{\nu}^{KL}}. (25)

Hence the wave functions which reproduce the Minkowski spacetime on average should satisfy

\Tr(Ψ¯(0,x)𝔢^g^μν6(Ψ¯(0,x))=ημν.\Tr(\overline{\Psi}(0,x)\hat{\mathfrak{e}}{}^{-6}\hat{g}^{\mu\nu}(\overline{\Psi}(0,x))=\eta^{\mu\nu}. (26)

In terms of the Fourier components, equation (26) implies that

Ψ~(π,k)=Ψ~(π,k).\tilde{\Psi}(\pi,k)=\tilde{\Psi}(-\pi,k). (27)

By comparison with the normalizability condition, we conclude that

(8πG)22ϰ2ηIKηJLωμIJωνKLΨ(0,x)=ημνΨ(0,x).-(8\pi G)^{2}\hbar^{2}\varkappa^{2}\eta^{IK}\eta^{JL}\partial_{\omega_{\mu}^{IJ}}\partial_{\omega_{\nu}^{KL}}\Psi(0,x)=\eta^{\mu\nu}\Psi(0,x).

Therefore, for the plane waves,

(8πG)22ϰ2πIJμπν=IJημν.(8\pi G)^{2}\hbar^{2}\varkappa^{2}\pi_{IJ}^{\mu}\pi^{\nu}{}^{IJ}{}=\eta^{\mu\nu}. (28)

Then, from the dispersion relation, it follows

ημνkμkν=0.\eta^{\mu\nu}k_{\mu}k_{\nu}=0. (29)

Thus, the states corresponding to the (1+3)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime in the classical limit have:

  • the light-like modes (29)(\ref{mi14}) along the spacetime dimensions (the base of the total space of the bundle of spin connection coefficients over spacetime);

  • 4 massive (Yukawa) modes (28)(\ref{mi13}) in the spin-connection spaces (the fibers of the total space of the bundle of spin connection coefficients over spacetime), which propagate in 6-dimensional subspaces with the coordinates ωμIJ\omega_{\mu}^{IJ} for each μ=0,1,2,3\mu=0,1,2,3;

  • the range of those massive modes in ω\omega-space is 8πGϰ8\pi G\hbar\varkappa, whose value we estimate below;

  • the modes corresponding to the spatial μ=1,2,3\mu=1,2,3 are tachyonic. Those tachyonic modes, however, do not violate the causality in spacetime as they propagate along the fibers associated to each point of spacetime rather than in the spacetime itself.

Note that the spin connection has the mass dimension +1, ϰ\varkappa has the mass dimension +3, and the square of the Planck length GG\hbar has the mass dimension 2-2. Hence the range of the Yukawa modes in the spin connection space, 8πGϰ8\pi G\hbar\varkappa, is given in the units of mass dimension +1, which is also the mass dimension of acceleration.

If ϰ\varkappa were Planckian, which is a seemingly natural first guess, then the range of Yukawa modes in the spin connection space is also Planckian, and they could be attributed to the quantum foaminess of spacetime at the Planck scale, as is usually assumed. However, our study of quantum Yang-Mills theory from the perspective of precanonical quantization (see below) has produced evidence that ϰ\varkappa is more likely a sub-nuclear scale quantity, which leads to a drastically different scale of the phenomena in question.

3.1 An estimation of ϰ\varkappa from the mass gap in pure gauge theory

From the Lagrangian of a pure non-abelian Yang-Mills theory we can derive the corresponding DW Hamiltonian function [20, 8] and precanonically quantize it. It leads to the following expression for the DW Hamiltonian operator for the quantum pure YM field with the coupling constant gg [20, 8, 21]

H^=122ϰ2AaμAμa12igϰCaAμbbcAνcγνAμa.\widehat{H}=\frac{1}{2}\hbar^{2}\varkappa^{2}\frac{\partial}{\partial A_{a}^{\mu}\partial A^{a}_{\mu}}-\frac{1}{2}ig\hbar\varkappa C^{a}{}_{bc}A^{b}_{\mu}A^{c}_{\nu}\gamma^{\nu}\frac{\partial}{\partial A^{a}_{\mu}}\;. (30)

The fact that the eigenvalues of the DW Hamiltonian operator for the pure YM field yield the spectrum of masses of the propagating modes is manifested in the precanonical Schrödinger equation in flat spacetime

iγμμΨ=1ϰH^Ψ.i\hbar\gamma^{\mu}\partial_{\mu}\Psi=\frac{1}{\varkappa}\widehat{H}\Psi. (31)

In [22], we have shown that equations (30) and (31) for the wave function Ψ(A,x)\Psi(A,x) reproduce the functional Schrödinger equation for the wave functional 𝚿([A(𝐱)],t){\bf\Psi}([A({\mathbf{x}})],t) after the (3+1) decomposition and the “dequantization map” 1ϰγ¯0ϖ0=d𝐱\frac{1}{\varkappa}\underline{\gamma\!}_{0}\mapsto\varpi_{0}=d{\mathbf{x}} (cf. (4)).

In the temporal gauge A=0a0{A}{}^{a}_{0}=0, we can limit ourselves to the operator (30) written only in terms of the spatial components AiaA^{a}_{i}. For SU(2) theory with a,b,c=1,2,3a,b,c=1,2,3 and i,j=1,2,3i,j=1,2,3, we were able to estimate the gap between the ground state and the first excitation with the vanishing non-abelian charge (a “color” or rather “isospin” in the context of SU(2))

1ϰH^>(8g24ϰ32)1/3|𝖺𝗂1|,\langle\frac{1}{\varkappa}\hat{H}\rangle>\left(\frac{8g^{2}\hbar^{4}\varkappa}{32}\right)^{1/3}|\mathsf{ai}^{\prime}_{1}|, (32)

where 𝖺𝗂1\mathsf{ai}^{\prime}_{1} is the first root of the derivative of the Airy function. This gap in the spectrum of the DW Hamiltonian operator can be identified with the mass gap

Δμ0.86(g24ϰ)1/3.\Delta\mu\approx 0.86(g^{2}\hbar^{4}\varkappa)^{1/3}. (33)

Therefore, the scale of ϰ\varkappa is close to the scale of the mass gap. For SU(3) YM theory, this formula will have a different numerical coefficient in front and a different value of the coupling constant gg. The SU(3) QCD mass gap lies between the pion masses at 130 MeV and the alleged glueball masses at a few GeV. The numerical factor in (33) for SU(3) may change several times, and the coupling constant gg is of the order 10210110^{-2}-10^{-1} (in the units of \sqrt{\hbar}). With those uncertainties, we estimate ϰ1/3\varkappa^{1/3} is below 1 GeV with an error of up to 2 orders of magnitude.

3.2 The minimal acceleration

With the GeV-scale ϰ\varkappa we obtain

8πGϰ1023±3×2cm1.8\pi G\hbar\varkappa\sim 10^{-23\pm 3\times 2}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-1}. (34)

This quantity is compatible with the scale of the Hubble radius RH1028cmR_{H}\sim 10^{28}\ \mathrm{cm} and the cosmological constant |Λ|1056cm2|\Lambda|\sim 10^{-56}\ \mathrm{cm}^{-2}, if the scale of ϰ\varkappa is below 100 MeV, which is on the edge of our margin of error. In this case, 8πGϰ8\pi G\hbar\varkappa coincides with the scale of the minimal acceleration a0Λa_{0}\sim\sqrt{\Lambda} which is known from Milgrom’s theory of MOND [45, 46, 47, 48, 49]. Note that the Yukawa modes in the spin-connection space, which set the threshold of acceleration 8πGϰ8\pi G\hbar\varkappa, emerge from quantum fluctuations of spin connection around the vanishing value of the spin connection of Minkowski spacetime. They establish the limit below which quantum fluctuations of spacetime violate the notion of acceleration-less inertial frames which underlies classical Minkowski spacetime. Note also that our value of the minimal acceleration appears here in the context of a quantum analogue of the Minkowski spacetime and it may slightly change for the quantum analogues of more realistic cosmological spacetimes.

3.3 The cosmological constant

We have already pointed out that the expression of the precanonical Schrödinger equation for gravity (15) is defined up to the operator ordering of ω\omega and ω\partial_{\omega}. A reordering in the spin connection term will produce a constant of the order 1443\frac{1}{4}4^{3} added to the dimensionless λ=Λ(8πGϰ)2\lambda=\frac{\Lambda}{(8\pi G\hbar\varkappa)^{2}} constructed from the bare cosmological constant Λ\Lambda. If the latter equals zero, then the contribution to the cosmological constant from the reordering of operators, i.e. essentially from the quantum fluctuations of the spin connection, can be estimated as Λω42(8πGϰ)2\Lambda_{\omega}\sim 4^{2}(8\pi G\hbar\varkappa)^{2}. For ϰ100±3×2\varkappa\sim 10^{0\pm 3\times 2} GeV3, in agreement with the estimation in Section 3.1, we obtain Λω1045±2×6\Lambda_{\omega}\sim 10^{-45\pm 2\times 6} cm-2. This estimation is again consistent with the observed value of the cosmological constant if the scale of ϰ\varkappa is below approximately 100 MeV. In this case, the minimal acceleration in (34) is related to Λω\Lambda_{\omega} as follows

a014Λω,a_{0}\approx\frac{1}{4}\sqrt{\Lambda_{\omega}}, (35)

which is close to the current observed value a01.2×1010a_{0}\approx 1.2\times 10^{-10} m\cdots-2 or a01029a_{0}\approx 10^{-29} cm-1 in the c=1c=1 units. Thus the mysterious connection between the phenomenological minimal acceleration in the dynamics of galaxies as described by MOND (as an alternative to the dark matter) and the cosmological constant (as the simplest dark energy) emerges as an elementary effect of precanonical quantum gravity.

\ack

I gratefully acknowledge V.A. Kholodnyi for his interest and insightful comments, J. Kouneiher for his interest and encouraging support, and M. Wright for his remarks helping to improve the linguistic quality of the manuscript. I also thank Hans-Thomas Elze for his tireless organization of DICE Conferences in Castiglioncello, which provided an inspirational framework for exchanging ideas.

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