Nonlinearly realized local scale invariance: Gravity and matter

Abstract

That the scalar field theories with no dimensional couplings possess local scale invariance (LSI) via the curvature gauging is utilized to show that the Goldstone boson, released by the spontaneous LSI breakdown, is swallowed by the spacetime curvature in order to generate Newton's constant in the same spirit as the induction of vector boson masses via spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking. For Einstein gravity to be reproduced correctly, the Goldstone boson of spontaneous LSI breaking must be endowed with ghost dynamics. The matter sector, taken to be the standard model spectrum, gains full LSI property with the physical Higgs boson acting as the Goldstone boson released by LSI breakdown at the weak scale. The pattern of particle masses is identical to that of the standard model. There are unitary LSI gauges in which either the Goldstone ghost from gravity sector or the Higgs boson from matter sector is eliminated from the spectrum. The heavy right-handed neutrinos as well as softly broken supersymmetry naturally fit into the nonlinearly realized LSI framework.