English

Quantum gravitational contributions to quantum electrodynamics

High Energy Physics - Theory 2011-11-10 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

Quantum electrodynamics describes the interactions of electrons and photons. Electric charge (the gauge coupling constant) is energy dependent, and there is a previous claim that charge is affected by gravity (described by general relativity) with the implication that the charge is reduced at high energies. But that claim has been very controversial with the situation inconclusive. Here I report an analysis (free from earlier controversies) demonstrating that that quantum gravity corrections to quantum electrodynamics have a quadratic energy dependence that result in the reduction of the electric charge at high energies, a result known as asymptotic freedom.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1010.0793,
  title  = {Quantum gravitational contributions to quantum electrodynamics},
  author = {David J. Toms},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1010.0793},
  year   = {2011}
}

Comments

To be published in Nature. 19 pages LaTeX, no figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:23:50.272Z