- Open Access
- Access by Xinjiang University
Unification of gravity and standard model: Weyl-Dirac-Born-Infeld action
Phys. Rev. D 112, 125015 – Published 10 December, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/n6b5-v8dn
Abstract
We construct a unified (quantum) description, by the gauge principle, of gravity and Standard Model (SM), that generalizes the Dirac-Born-Infeld action to the SM and Weyl geometry, hereafter called Weyl-Dirac-Born-Infeld action (WDBI). The theory is formulated in dimensions. The WDBI action is a general gauge theory of SM and Weyl group (of dilatations and Poincaré symmetry), in the Weyl gauge covariant (metric) formulation of Weyl geometry. The theory is SM and Weyl gauge invariant in dimensions and there is no Weyl anomaly. The WDBI action has the unique elegant feature, not present in other gauge theories or even in string theory, that it is mathematically well defined in dimensions with no need to introduce in the action a UV regulator scale or field. This action actually predicts that gravity, through (Weyl covariant) space-time curvature , acts as UV regulator of both SM and gravity in . A series expansion of the WDBI action (in dimensionless couplings) recovers in the leading order a Weyl gauge invariant version of SM and the Weyl (gauge theory of) quadratic gravity. The SM and Einstein-Hilbert gravity are recovered in the Stueckelberg broken phase of Weyl gauge symmetry, which restores Riemannian geometry below Planck scale. Subleading orders are suppressed by powers of (dimensionless) gravitational coupling () of Weyl quadratic gravity.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (46)
- E. Noether, Invariant variation problems, Gott. Nachr. 1918, 235 (1918) [Trans. Theor. Stat. Phys. 1, 186 (1971)].
- W. A. Bardeen, On naturalness in the standard model, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Report No. FERMILAB-CONF-95-391-T.
- A. Bregman, Weyl transformations and Poincare gauge invariance, Prog. Theor. Phys. 49, 667 (1973).
- J. M. Charap and W. Tait, A gauge theory of the Weyl group, Proc. R. Soc. A 340, 249 (1974).
- C. Condeescu, D. M. Ghilencea, and A. Micu, Weyl quadratic gravity as a gauge theory and non-metricity vs torsion duality, Eur. Phys. J. C 84, 292 (2024).
- C. Condeescu and A. Micu, The gauge theory of Weyl group and its interpretation as Weyl quadratic gravity, Classical Quantum Gravity 42, 065011 (2025).
- M. Kaku, P. K. Townsend, and P. van Nieuwenhuizen, Gauge theory of the conformal and superconformal group, Phys. Lett. B 69, 304 (1977).
- P. D. Mannheim and D. Kazanas, Exact vacuum solution to conformal Weyl gravity and galactic rotation curves, Astrophys. J. 342, 635 (1989); D. Kazanas and P. D. Mannheim, General structure of the gravitational equations of motion in conformal Weyl gravity, Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 76, 431 (1991).
- F. Englert, C. Truffin, and R. Gastmans, Conformal invariance in quantum gravity, Nucl. Phys. B117, 407 (1976).
- D. M. Ghilencea and C. T. Hill, Standard model in conformal geometry: Local vs gauged scale invariance, Ann. Phys. (Amsterdam) 460, 169562 (2024).
- D. M. Ghilencea, Quantum gravity from Weyl conformal geometry, Eur. Phys. J. C 85, 815 (2025).
- Hermann Weyl, Gravitation und elektrizität, Sitz. Kön. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. 465 (1918) [An English version by D. H. Delphenich is currently available at: http://www.neo-classical-physics.info/spacetime-structure.html].
- Hermann Weyl Eine neue Erweiterung der Relativitätstheorie (A new extension of the theory of relativity), Ann. Phys. (Leipzig) 59, 101 (1919) [An English version by D. H. Delphenich is currently available at this link: http://www.neo-classical-physics.info/spacetime-structure.html].
- H. Weyl, Raum, Zeit, Materie, vierte erweiterte Auflage. Julius (Springer, Berlin, 1921) [Space-time-matter, translated from German by Henry L. Brose, Methuen & Co Ltd, London, 1922, www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43006 (Project Gutenberg License)].
- D. M. Ghilencea, Weyl conformal geometry vs Weyl anomaly, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2023) 113.
- C. Condeescu, D. M. Ghilencea, and A. Micu, Conformal geometry as a gauge theory of gravity: Covariant equations of motion & conservation laws, Ann. Phys. (Amsterdam) 480, 170125 (2025).
- M. P. Hobson and A. N. Lasenby, Weyl gauge theories of gravity do not predict a second clock effect, Phys. Rev. D 102, 084040 (2020).
- D. M. Ghilencea, Non-metric geometry as the origin of mass in gauge theories of scale invariance, Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 176 (2023).
- P. A. M. Dirac, Long range forces and broken symmetries, Proc. R. Soc. A 333, 403 (1973).
- For a historical review, see E. Scholz, The unexpected resurgence of Weyl geometry in the late 20-th century physics, Einstein Stud. 14, 261 (2018).
- E. C. G. Stueckelberg, Interaction forces in electrodynamics and in the field theory of nuclear forces, Helv. Phys. Acta 11, 299 (1938).
- D. M. Ghilencea, Spontaneous breaking of Weyl quadratic gravity to Einstein action and Higgs potential, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2019) 049; Stueckelberg breaking of Weyl conformal geometry and applications to gravity, Phys. Rev. D 101, 045010 (2020). For a brief review see Section 2.1 in [23].
- D. M. Ghilencea, Standard model in Weyl conformal geometry, Eur. Phys. J. C 82, 23 (2022).
- P. G. Ferreira, C. T. Hill, J. Noller, and G. G. Ross, Scale-independent inflation, Phys. Rev. D 100, 123516 (2019).
- D. M. Ghilencea, Weyl inflation with an emergent Planck scale, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2019) 209.
- M. Crăciun and T. Harko, Testing Weyl geometric gravity with the SPARC galactic rotation curves database, Phys. Dark Universe 43, 101423 (2024); P. Burikham, T. Harko, K. Pimsamarn, and S. Shahidi, Dark matter as a Weyl geometric effect, Phys. Rev. D 107, 064008 (2023).
- J. Z. Yang, S. Shahidi, and T. Harko, Black hole solutions in the quadratic Weyl conformal geometric theory of gravity, Eur. Phys. J. C 82, 1171 (2022).
- M. Born and L. Infeld, Foundations of the new field theory, Proc. R. Soc. A 144, 425 (1934).
- P. A. M. Dirac, An extensible model of the electron, Proc. R. Soc. A 268, 57 (1962).
- D. M. Ghilencea, Weyl gauge invariant DBI action in conformal geometry, Phys. Rev. D 111, 085019 (2025).
- D. P. Sorokin, Introductory notes on non-linear electrodynamics and its applications, Fortschr. Phys. 70, 2200092 (2022).
- A. A. Tseytlin, Born-Infeld action, supersymmetry and string theory, The Many Faces of the Superworld (World Scientific, Singapore, 2000).
- See, for example, D. Tong, String theory, arXiv:0908.0333.
- M. J. Duff, Twenty years of the Weyl anomaly, Classical Quantum Gravity 11, 1387 (1994); Observations on conformal anomalies, Nucl. Phys. B125, 334 (1977).
- D. M. Capper, M. J. Duff, and L. Halpern, Photon corrections to the graviton propagator, Phys. Rev. D 10, 461 (1974).
- D. M. Capper and M. J. Duff, Trace anomalies in dimensional regularization, Nuovo Cimento A 23, 173 (1974).
- S. Deser, M. J. Duff, and C. J. Isham, Nonlocal conformal anomalies, Nucl. Phys. B111, 45 (1976).
- S. Deser and A. Schwimmer, Geometric classification of conformal anomalies in arbitrary dimensions, Phys. Lett. B 309, 279 (1993).
- D. M. Ghilencea and H. M. Lee, Weyl gauge symmetry and its spontaneous breaking in the standard model and inflation, Phys. Rev. D 99, 115007 (2019).
- P. G. Ferreira, C. T. Hill, and G. G. Ross, Scale-independent inflation and hierarchy generation, Phys. Lett. B 763, 174 (2016).
- P. G. Ferreira, C. T. Hill, and G. G. Ross, No fifth force in a scale invariant universe, Phys. Rev. D 95, 064038 (2017).
- P. G. Ferreira, C. T. Hill, and G. G. Ross, Inertial spontaneous symmetry breaking and quantum scale invariance, Phys. Rev. D 98, 116012 (2018).
- P. G. Ferreira, C. T. Hill, and G. G. Ross, Weyl current, scale-invariant inflation and Planck scale generation, Phys. Rev. D 95, 043507 (2017).
- J. Garcia-Bellido, J. Rubio, M. Shaposhnikov, and D. Zenhausern, Higgs-dilaton cosmology: From the early to the late universe, Phys. Rev. D 84, 123504 (2011).
- K. Hayashi and T. Kugo, Everything about Weyl’s gauge field, Prog. Theor. Phys. 61, 334 (1979).
- L. Alvarez-Gaume, A. Kehagias, C. Kounnas, D. Lüst, and A. Riotto, Aspects of quadratic gravity, Fortschr. Phys. 64, 176 (2016).