Quantum gravity effects in the infrared: a theoretical derivation of the low-energy fine structure constant and mass ratios of elementary particles

Abstract

We have recently proposed a pre-quantum, pre-spacetime theory as a matrix-valued Lagrangian dynamics on an octonionic spacetime. This theory offers the prospect of unifying internal symmetries of the standard model with pre-gravitation. We explain why such a quantum gravitational dynamics is in principle essential even at energies much smaller than Planck scale. The dynamics can also predict the values of free parameters of the low-energy standard model: these parameters arising in the Lagrangian are related to the algebra of the octonions, which define the underlying non-commutative spacetime on which the dynamical degrees of freedom evolve. These free parameters are related to the exceptional Jordan algebra \(J_3(8)\), which describes the three fermion generations. We use the octonionic representation of fermions to compute the eigenvalues of the characteristic equation of this algebra and compare the resulting eigenvalues with known mass ratios for quarks and leptons. We show that the ratios of the eigenvalues correctly reproduce the [square root of the] known mass ratios. In conjunction with the trace dynamics Lagrangian, these eigenvalues also yield a theoretical derivation of the low-energy fine structure constant.