Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Ultraviolet-softened extensions of general relativity can weaken gravity at short distances, whereas a positive Källén--Lehmann spectral density forbids gravity from falling below Newtonian strength. Which property of the mediator must such a weakening sacrifice? For Lorentz-invariant Gaussian mediators coupled linearly to the conserved stress tensor, we formulate three independent interferometric conditions that jointly imply this bound: visibility is never amplified, decoherence is fixed by the energy radiated by the difference source, and no interferometer responds to a later one. At tree level, the three ghost prescriptions of quadratic gravity each violate exactly one: negative-norm ghosts amplify coherence, negative-energy ghosts decohere without positive energy transfer from the difference source, and a time-symmetric fakeon response produces advanced fringe shifts. Any universal short-distance weakening of gravity therefore certifies that its mediator violates one of these conditions, and the observables proposed to certify quantum gravity become consistency tests of its ultraviolet completion.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Author: Matsui, Hiroki
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223012584