THE CASE FOR UNQUANTIZED GRAVITY

Abstract

In this essay, we explore the hypothesis that gravity is best viewed as a non-quantized field, at least not in the usual sense of being quantized. It is linked to the energy localization hypothesis that energy, including the contribution from gravity, is localized in the region of the energy–momentum tensor. Evidence is gathered from among other aspects, the peculiar nature of gravitational plane waves and indirectly from the fact that there are no experimental results that point to a necessity for quantization. Should this hypothesis prove to be correct, it would favor the negation of the very existence of gravitons since gravitational waves would be seen as purely classical general relativistic constructs which carry no energy. Most significantly, unquantized gravity would turn the evidently unsolvable cosmological constant problem, viewed by various experts as the major crisis of modern physics, into a non-problem. In spite of this, there are indications to suggest that the study of limiting properties will lead to new insights into both the essence of space–time and the quantum world.