General Relativity as the Classical Limit of the Renormalizable Gauge Theory of Volume Preserving Diffeomorphisms

Abstract: The different roles and natures of spacetime appearing in a quantum field theory and in classical physics are analyzed implying that a quantum theory of gravitation is not necessarily a quantum theory of curved spacetime. Developing an alternative approach to quantum gravity starts with the postulate that inertial and gravitational energy-momentum need not be the same for virtual quantum states. Separating their roles naturally leads to the quantum gauge field theory of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of an inner four-dimensional space. The classical limit of this theory coupled to a quantized scalar field is derived for an on-shell particle where inertial and gravitational energy-momentum coincide. In that process the symmetry under volume-preserving diffeomorphisms disappears and a new symmetry group emerges: the group of coordinate transformations of four-dimensional spacetime and with it General Relativity coupled to a classical relativistic point particle.