The Quantum Vacuum Self-Consistency Principle: Emergent Dynamics of Spacetime and the Standard Model (2511.04170v1)

Abstract: The principle of self-consistency of the quantum vacuum postulates that the classical backgrounds we observe -- spacetime, gauge fields, and the Higgs condensate -- are macroscopic order parameters of a single quantum state sustained by its own fluctuations. Building on this postulate, a background-field, heat-kernel based derivation is developed that yields the coupled low-energy effective field equations for the metric, gauge, and Higgs fields as vacuum "equations of state." The framework rigorously recovers the Einstein, Yang-Mills, and Higgs equations, augmented by the higher-derivative operators required by quantum consistency. Phenomenological consequences follow. First, the anomaly- and loop-induced R^2 operator generically drives Starobinsky-type inflation, compatible with Planck data. Second, the universally calculable quantum correction to Newton's potential and the Yukawa tails from massive spin-0 and spin-2 modes are quantified and shown to satisfy laboratory bounds. Third, constraints from GW170817 enforce luminal gravitational wave speed. The theory is predictive in its inflationary sector and in its universal low-energy corrections to gravity, reducing to General Relativity and the Standard Model at accessible scales with controlled corrections.