Mass gap in Yang's theory of gravity

Abstract

The quantization of a curvature-squared model of gravity, in the affine form proposed by Yang, is reconsidered in the path integral formulation. Due to its inherent Weyl invariance, sharing this with internal Yang–Mills fields, it or some of its topological generalizations are still a possible route to quantum gravity. Instanton type solutions with double duality properties exhibit a "vacuum degeneracy", i.e. a bifurcation into distinct classical Einsteinian backgrounds. For linearized fields, this conclusively induces a mass gap in the graviton spectrum, a feature which is an open problem in the quantization of internal Yang–Mills fields.