Emergent Gravity Completion in Quantum Field Theory, and

Affine Condensation in Open and Closed Strings

∗
Durmuş Demir
Sabancı University, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, 34956 İstanbul, Türkiye
(Dated: December 29, 2023)

Abstract
arXiv:2312.16270v1 [hep-th] 26 Dec 2023

The ultraviolet cutoff on a quantum field theory can be interpreted as a condensate of the affine
curvature such that while the maximum of the affine action gives the power-law corrections, its
minimum leads to the emergence of gravity. This mechanism applies also to fundamental strings
as their spinless unstable ground levels can be represented by the scalar affine curvature such that
open strings (D-branes) decay to closed strings and closed strings to finite minima with emergent
gravity. Affine curvature is less sensitive to massive string levels than the tachyon, and the field-
theoretic and stringy emergent gravities take the same form. It may be that affine condensation
provides an additional link between the string theory and the known physics at low energies.

CONTENTS

I. Introduction 2

II. Bottom-Up: Emergent Gravity Completion of Quantum Field Theory 3

A. Effective QFT 3
B. Taking effective QFT to curved spacetime 4
C. Emergent gravity from affine condensation 7

III. Top-Down: Emergent Gravity Devocation of String Instability 11

IV. Conclusion 15

Acknowledgements 16

References 16
∗
durmus.demir@sabanciuniv.edu; http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/durmusdemir/

1
I. INTRODUCTION

The SM is a quantum field theory (QFT) of the electromagnetic, weak, and strong inter-
actions [1]. It leaves out gravity. It inherently belongs to the flat spacetime due to difficulties
with the quantization of the curved metric [2] and difficulties also with the carriage of QFTs
to curved spacetime [3–5]. Nevertheless, unlike the full QFTs like the SM, flat spacetime
effective QFTs can have a particular affinity with curved spacetime since they are nearly-
classical field theories obtained by integrating out high-energy quantum fluctuations [1, 6]
in the sense of both the Wilsonian and one-particle-irreducible effective actions [7–9].

Viewed as an effective QFT, the SM must have a physical UV validity limit (not a
regulator), say Λ℘ [6]. It is the scale at which a UV completion sets in. It can lie at
any scale above a TeV according to the null results from the LHC searches [10]. It breaks
Poincare (translation) symmetry explicitly so that the loop momenta ℓµ lie in the range
−Λ2℘ ≤ ηµν ℓµ ℓν ≤ Λ2℘ in flat spacetime with Minkowski metric ηµν . Then, loop corrections
to scalar mass-squareds contain terms proportional to Λ2℘ . Likewise, the vacuum energy
involves Λ4℘ and Λ2℘ terms [6, 11]. In addition to these unnatural UV-sensitivities [6], all of
the gauge bosons acquire mass-squareds proportional to Λ2℘ , and these loop-induced masses
break gauge symmetries explicitly [12, 13]. What would be more natural than to use the
Higgs mechanism [14–16] to restore the gauge symmetries? Impeding this proposal is the
radical difference between the intermediate vector boson mass (Poincare-conserving) [17]
and the loop-induced gauge boson mass (Poincare-breaking) [18]. Indeed, in the former,
in accordance with the Poincare conservation, vector boson mass is promoted to a scalar
field, which leads to the usual Higgs mechanism [14–16]. In the latter, due to the Poincare-
breaking nature of Λ℘ , it is necessary to find a Poincare-breaking Higgs field and employ the
Higgs mechanism accordingly. In this regard, we construct a gauge symmetry restoration
mechanism in which affine curvature [19, 20] comes into play as the Higgs field promoting the
UV cutoff Λ℘ , and condenses to the usual metrical curvature in the minimum of the metric-
affine action [21, 22] such that unnatural UV sensitivities get defused, gauge symmetries are
restored, the emergence of gravity is enabled, and new particles are brought about that do
not have to couple to the SM directly [18, 23–25]. This affine condensation mechanism gives
a bottom-up UV completion of the QFT with emergent gravity. We shall construct it in
detail in Sec. II.

2
 In string theory, the ground levels of both the open (D-brane) and closed strings are
spinless imaginary-mass states. They are unstable. They are readily represented by a scalar
tachyon as part of the corresponding string field theory [26, 27]. There is, however, a problem
in that the mass of the tachyon, in absolute magnitude, is of a similar size as those of the
massive string levels, and the tachyon can therefore hardly give a low-energy effective field
theory description of the massless string spectrum. In regard to this problem, we realize that
actually the affine curvature in Sec. II can give a proper description of the string ground level
because it contains the usual massless graviton as part of the low-energy effective theory. As
we show in Sec. III, affine condensation leads to a picture in which open strings (D-brane)
decay into closed strings and closed strings decay into not the vacuity but a minimum in
which gravity emerges just as in Sec. II. This top-down approach gives a stringy completion
of the QFTs.
In Sec. IV, we give a comparative discussion of the bottom-up and top-down approaches.
In particular, we conclude that affine condensation may be the way string theory is linked
to the known physics at low energies. In this section, we discuss also few future prospects.

II. BOTTOM-UP: EMERGENT GRAVITY COMPLETION OF QUANTUM FIELD

THEORY

In this section, following a bottom-up approach, we shall discuss the completion of the
QFT in the UV via emergent gravity. In essence, gravity will emerge in a way that restores
the gauge symmetries via the condensation of the affine curvature such that the affine
curvature itself enters the game as a Higgs-like field promoting the loop-induced gauge
boson masses namely the UV cutoff.

A. Effective QFT

Let us consider a generic renormalizable field theory of quantum fields ψ (the SM fields
plus new particles) for generality. In flat spacetime, the effective QFT capturing the physics
of the full QFT at low energies µ ≪ Λ℘ is described by the effective action [18]

S[η, ψ; log µ, Λ2℘ ] = Stree [η, ψ] + δSlog [η, ψ; log µ] + δSpow [η, ψ; log µ, Λ2℘ ] (1)

3
in extension of the dimensional regularization [28, 29] to QFTs with a physical UV cutoff
Λ℘ [30]. In the effective action, the tree-level action Stree sets symmetries, field spectrum,
and interactions in the QFT. The logarithmic correction δSlog involves the renormalization
scale µ (not the UV cutoff Λ℘ ) and follows the structure of Stree . The power-law correction
√ n
Z o
δSpow = d4 x −η − cO Λ4℘ − 2MO2 Λ2℘ − cϕ Λ2℘ ϕ† ϕ + cV Λ2℘ tr [V µ ηµν V ν ] (2)

involves the scalar fields ϕ and the gauge fields Vh µ with the color trace tr[. . . ]. Here, the
loop-induced factors
(nb − nf )
cO = (3)
64π 2
and
str[M 2 ]
MO2 = (4)
64π 2
set the power-law corrections to the vacuum energy, with nb (nf ) being the total number
of bosonic (fermionic) degrees of freedom in the QFT, and M 2 denoting the mass-squared
matrix of all the QFT fields, with the supertrace str[M 2 ] = J (−1)2J (2J + 1)MJ2 over the
P

particle spin J. The loop factor cϕ controls the quadratic corrections to scalar mass-squareds
(cϕ (Higgs) ≈ 3h2t /4π). The loop factor cV , on the other hand, rules the breaking explicitly of
the gauge symmetry symmetries (cV (gluon) = 21g32 /16π 2 and cV (hypercharge) = 39g32 /32π 2
) [23, 24].

B. Taking effective QFT to curved spacetime

The matter fields ψ in (1) are feebly-fluctuating quantum fields (nearly classical), and
this ensures that the effective action S[η] can be smoothly carried into spacetime of a curved
metric gµν via general covariance [31]

ηµν → gµν , ∂µ → ∇µ (5)

in which ∇µ is the covariant derivative with respect to the Levi-Civita connection

g 1
Γλµν = g λρ (∂µ gνρ + ∂ν gρµ − ∂ρ gµν ) (6)
2
so that ∇α gµν = 0. But, for the metric gµν to be curved, the effective QFT in curved space-
time must involve the metrical curvature, like, for example, the Ricci curvature Rµν (g Γ). In

4
classical field theories, spacetime metric can be made dynamical (curved) by simply adding
requisite curvature terms (such as the Einstein-Hilbert term) with appropriate bare con-
stants. In effective field theories, this is not possible. The reason is that effective QFTs have
all their couplings generated or corrected by loop contributions, and adding any curvature
term by hand contradicts the renormalized QFT structure. Indeed, the introduction of bare
terms means that the curvature sector of the original QFT was left unrenormalized while the
matter sector was renormalized. In the face of this contradiction, the curvature must arise
from within the flat spacetime effective action (1) not with some bare constants but with
the loop factors ci . In other words, curvature must arise via the deformations of the existing
loop corrections in δSpow . Possible deformations are set by the commutator [∇µ , ∇ν ] as it
generates curvature via its actions V µ [∇ν , ∇µ ]V ν = V µ Rµν (g Γ)V ν on the gauge fields V µ
and ψγ µ γ ν [∇µ , ∇ν ]ψ = −(1/2)g µν Rµν (g Γ)ψψ on the fermions ψ. This dimension-5 fermion
contribution is irrelevant. Thus, deformations can occur only in the gauge sector. In fact,
the structure of V µ Rµν (g Γ)V ν suggests that the object to be deformed is the gauge boson
mass term cV Λ2℘ tr [V µ ηµν V ν ]. To see this, it proves useful to start with the flat spacetime
null deformation
√
Z
S[η]
e = S[η] + d4 x −ηcV tr [V µ ([Dµ , Dν ] − iVµν )V ν ]
= S[η] (7)

where the added deformation term consists of the field strength tensor Vµν of the gauge
fields defined as [Dµ , Dν ]V ν = iVµν V ν such that Dµ = ∂µ + iVµ is the gauge-covariant
derivative, with V µ being a vector in the adjoint. Obviously, the deformation integral in (7)
vanishes identically, and therefore the flat spacetime effective action S[η] remains untouched,
e ≡ S[η]. But, under the general covariance map in (5), this null deformation gives rise
S[η]
to a curved spacetime action
√
Z
S[g] = S[g] + d4 x −gcV tr [V µ ([Dµ , Dν ] − iVµν )V ν ]
e

√
Z
= S[g] − d4 x −gcV tr [V µ Rµν (g Γ)V ν ] (8)

whose second line develops the sought-for curvature tensor as generated by the commutator
[Dµ , Dν ]V ν = (−Rµν (g Γ) + iVµν ) V ν of the curved spacetime covariant derivative Dµ =
∇µ + iVµ . The curvature in (8) ensures that spacetime is curved. But there is no gravity!
There is no gravity because the Einstein-Hilbert term is missing in (8). This imperative

5
term, proportional to the curvature scalar g µν Rµν (g Γ), has to emerge from within the curved
spacetime effective action (8).
Our goal is to find out how the Einstein-Hilbert term emerges from within the curved
spacetime effective action S[g].
e For this, it proves useful to contrast the two mass terms:
MI2 tr[Iµ I µ ] and cV Λ2℘ tr[Vµ V µ ]. In the former, MI is the Poincare-conserving mass of an
intermediate vector boson Iµ (like the W/Z bosons) and thus it can be promoted as

MI2 tr[Iµ I µ ] 7−→ (Iµ S)† I µ S ⊂ (Dµ S)† Dµ S (9)

to a Poincare-conserving Higgs scalar S for restoring the gauge symmetry with gauge-
covariant derivative Dµ = ∂µ + iIµ [14–17]. In the latter, however, Λ2℘ breaks the Poincare
symmetry, and so it can be promoted to only a Poincare-breaking field (not the scalar S) for
restoring the gauge symmetry [18, 23–25]. In general, Poincare-breaking fields are expected
to be related to the spacetime curvature since, in a general second-quantized field theory with
no presumed symmetries, Poincare symmetry is known to emerge if the Poincare-breaking
terms are identified with curvature [32]. Nonetheless, the Poincare-breaking field promoting
Λ2℘ must be insensitive to the metric as it must remain nonzero in flat and curved space-
times. One field that satisfies both of these conditions is the Ricci curvature Rµν (Γ) of a
general affine connection Γλµν . Indeed, Γλµν is independent of the metric gµν but tends to
g
Γλµν in (6) by affine dynamics, and, as a result, Rµν (Γ) tends to Rµν (g Γ). This dynamical
nearing ensures that Rµν (Γ) is the sought-for Poincare-breaking field, and the UV cutoff Λ℘
can therefore be promoted as

Λ2℘ gµν 7−→ Rµν (Γ) (10)

for restoring the gauge symmetries [18, 23–25]. This map parallels the promotion in (9) of
the intermediate vector boson masses MI to scalars S for restoring the gauge symmetries
[17]. It makes the curved spacetime effective action S[g]
e in (8) a metric-Palatini gravity

theory [22, 33]

S[g,
e Γ] = Stree [g, ψ] + δSlog [g, ψ; log µ]
√ cO 2 MO2
Z  
4 cϕ † µ ν
+ d x −g − R − R − ϕ ϕ R + cV tr [V (Rµν − Rµν ) V ] (11)
16 2 4
in which R = g µν Rµν (Γ) is the affine scalar curvature. Its coefficient MO2 must be positive
and much bigger than any QFT scale since metric-Palatini dynamics will eventually turn it

6
to the fundamental scale of gravity [20–22]

MO = MP l (12)

and ascribe it this way to a new physical role compared to its definition in (4) and role in
(2) in the flat spacetime.

C. Emergent gravity from affine condensation

Owing to its effective nature (nearly classical), stationary points of the metric-Palatini
action (11) are expected to give the extremal points corresponding to physical field configura-
tions. Then, keeping the matter sector in its vacuum state (⟨Vµ ⟩ = 0, ⟨f ⟩ = 0, ⟨ϕ⟩/MP l ≈ 0),
extremal values of Γ are derived from the stationarity condition
δ S[g,
e Γ]
Γ 1/3 µν


= 0 =⇒ ∇ λ Q g =0 (13)
δΓλµν

in which the covariant derivative Γ ∇λ is that of Γ, and

MP2 l cO
Q= + R (14)
2 8
equals the variation of −S[g,
e Γ] with R in the vacuum.

One solution of the motion equation (13) is just Q = 0. And it gives a constant affine
curvature scalar −4MP2 l /cO from (14). This is the extremal curvature that leaves the action
(11) stationary. It must be equal to 4Λ2℘ since the affine curvature R is after all the “Higgs
field” promoting Λ2℘ as in (10), and its extremal value must therefore regenerate the UV
cutoff. But for this regeneration, −4MP2 l /cO must be positive, and this can happen only if

cO < 0 =⇒ nb < nf (15)

revealing that nature has more fermions than bosons. This negative cO makes the R–
potential in (11) maximum at the extremum −4MP2 l /cO > 0. Thus, Q = 0 solution with
cO < 0 leads to the extremal affine curvature scalar
4MP2 l
Rmax = − = 4Λ2℘ (16)
cO
at which −S[g,
e Γ] attains its maximum. At this maximal curvature, it reduces to the curved

spacetime action in (8) and brings back, therefore, all the power-law UV corrections in (2).
This maximum is full of problems.

7
 One other solution of the motion equation (13) occurs with Q ̸= 0 and leads to the
minimal configuration
1
(Γmin )λµν = g Γλµν + ∇µ δνλ + ∇ν δµλ − ∇λ gµν Q


(17)
6Q
as the maximal configuration was already identified in (16). Expanding (17) up to O MP−4l

terms, the extremal affine curvature is found to be

cO
(Rmin )µν = Rµν (g Γ) − (□gµν + 2∇µ ∇ν )R (18)
24MP2 l
where R = g µνRµν (g Γ) is the metrical curvature scalar. In this minimum, the cV part of (11)
reduces to
√
Z
d4 x −g cV tr V µ zero + O MP−2l V ν



(19)

which is seen to vanish up to O MP−2l terms. This nullification of the gauge boson mass

terms ensures that all the gauge symmetries are restored in the minimum in (18) up to
doubly Planck-suppressed terms.
In the minimum (18), the metric-Palatini effective action (11) gives rise to, up to O MP−2l

terms, a contemperature of dimensionally-regularized QFT and R + R2 gravity theory

√ MP2 l
Z  
4 cO 2 cϕ †
S[g] = Stree [g, ψ] + δSlog [g, ψ; log µ] + d x −g − R − R − ϕ ϕR (20)
2 16 4
up to doubly Planck-suppressed terms, including the remainder in (19). This resultant
action describes the emergence of the curvature sector via the promotion in (10) of the UV
cutoff to affine curvature and condensation in (18) of the affine curvature to the metrical
curvature. It turns out that the affine curvature condensation gives rise to both the gauge
and gravitational interactions. In essence, the action S[g] is the curved spacetime image
of the flat spacetime effective action (1), and lays a gauge symmetry restoring emergent
gravity framework, which we abbreviate as symmergent gravity [18, 23, 24]. Symmergence
is the physics in the minimum. Its item-by-item comparison in Fig. 1 with the physics at
the maximum reveals that the QFT has transited from the problem-full maximum in (16)
to the physically viable minimum in (18) via the affine dynamics in (13).
Symmergence has important physics implications. Firstly, the gravitational scale MP l
comes out wrong in the SM given in its definition in (4) via (12). So, new particles with
heavy bosons are necessary, but their couplings to the SM are not simply because they do

8
FIG. 1. A schematic plot of −S[g,
e Γ] contrasting its maximum and minimum. Its minimum leads

to symmergent gravity.

not need any non-gravitational couplings to SM fields to saturate the mass sum rule in (4).
LHC searches imply Λ℘ > 1 TeV [10], and this puts an upper bound of nf − nb < 3.75 × 1033
from (16). In flat spacetime, there is no scale like the Planck mass, so Λ℘ can well be
trans-Planckian, and in that case, one finds nf − nb < 630 for Λ℘ > MP l .
Secondly, symmergence allows the Higgs and other possible light scalars to remain light.
Indeed, symmergence completes the QFT by converting the power-law UV corrections in
(2) to curvature terms in (11) so light scalars can be destabilized only by large logarithms
in δSlog of heavy new fields Ψ. But, the logarithmic shift in the Higgs mass
MΨ2
δm2h ∝ λhΨ MΨ2 log (21)
µ2
does not have to destabilize the SM since Higgs coupling λhΨ to new fields Ψ is allowed
to be small in symmergence. In fact, λhΨ is allowed to even vanish with no harm to the

9
workings of the symmergence. In general, couplings of the size λhΨ ≲ m2h /m2Ψ stabilize δm2h
and render the Higgs boson natural [34]. Also important is that the new fields can form
a natural dark sector with none to weak couplings to the SM. They can even form a fully
decoupled black sector in agreement with the current dark matter searches [34–36]. In this
regard, dark/black stars and galaxies become a possibility.

Thirdly, symmergence implies that the Universe starts flat. Gravity emerges afterward
from the quantum fluctuations of the matter fields. The vacuum energy from δSlog in (20)

M2
  
1 4 3
δV = str M 1 − log 2 (22)
32π 2 2 µ

is of Planckian size as implied by the definition in (12) of the Planck scale, and gives rise
to a solution R(g) ∼ MP2 l via the Einstein field equations from (20). The maximum and
minimum in Fig. 1 then get split in energy by Λ℘ − MP l ∼ Λ℘ so that the gravity emerges
within a time about Λ−1
℘ . This symmergent evolution can be described by an FRW Universe

with a quasi-linear scale factor such that the δV in (22) sets the initial value of the scale
factor [37–39]. This FRW description holds initially and gets modified in time with higher-
derivative contributions from the quadratic curvature term. This symmergent cosmology
sharply contrasts quantum cosmology [40] in that the Universe starts flat (no gravity) in
the former and curved (quantum gravity) in the latter. Also, the classical gravity phase is
−1
attained in a time around Λ−1
℘ in the former and MP l in the latter.

Finally, the symmergent gravity action (20) gives an intertwined description of the renor-
malized QFT and classical gravity. The two sectors are compatible since quantum fluctua-
tions have been integrated out in flat spacetime, and gravity has emerged upon it. In spite of
this concord, the two sectors are still incompatible in the face of small remnant fluctuations
of the quantum fields. Nevertheless, given the Einstein field equations following from (20),
fluctuations in quantum fields can be translated as stochastic fluctuations in the spacetime
metric and, thanks to the loss of reversibility this way, the two sectors can be regarded to
attain a certain degree of compatibility [4, 5].

10
III. TOP-DOWN: EMERGENT GRAVITY DEVOCATION OF STRING INSTA-
BILITY

Flatness at the start ensures that the progenitor of the whole enchilada can be structured
and understood as a quantum object. One such object would be an open string of length
scale Λ−1
℘ ending on D-branes [41, 42]. This is because open strings with Dirichlet boundary

conditions break the Poincare symmetry. But non-supersymmetric open and closed strings
do fatefully decay because their ground states are imaginary-mass, spin-zero states lying
below even the massless states like the photon [26]. Indeed, for a string with tension T = Λ2℘ ,
the ground level acquires a mass M 2 = −2πΛ2℘ and M 2 = −8πΛ2℘ for open and closed strings,
respectively. Energetically, therefore, open strings and the D-branes they are attached to
are expected to decay into closed strings [43].
The decays and interactions of strings are studied in the framework of the equivalent
string field theory [27, 44]. In this regard, the tachyonic scalars like the Higgs field [14–17]
are tailor-made for the spinless, imaginary-mass string ground level. In fact, the Schrodinger
equation for the imaginary-mass string ground state is isomorphic to the Klein-Gordon
equation for a classical tachyonic scalar [27, 45]. But there is a serious problem with this
tachyonic string field theory. There is a problem because the mass of the string ground level,
in absolute magnitude, is at the same scale as the second, third, and even higher excited
levels of the string, and construction of a low-energy effective field theory for the tachyon
deadlocks as it mixes with the massive excited states of the string [26, 27]. Indeed, as a toy
model collecting results of different constructions [27, 46–51], the minimal tachyon action

√
Z  
D 1 µν 2 2 4 µ 2
S[η, T] = d x −η η ∂µ T∂ν T + πΛ℘ T + c̃O T + c̃V tr [Vµ V ] T + Lmix (T, χ≥2 ) (23)
2

inevitably contains an interaction term Lmix (T, χ≥2 ) with the second and higher string levels
χ≥2 . The c̃V term couples T to the massless vectors Vµ in the first excited level of the open
string. In the vacuum ⟨Vµ ⟩ = 0 so that −S[η, T] is maximized at Tmax = 0 and minimized at
T2min = −Λ2℘ /2c̃O provided that c̃O < 0 and provided also that Lmix (T, χ≥2 ) is negligible. The
transition from Tmax to Tmin gives a dynamical representation of the open string (D-brane)
instability. The vacuum energy drops from zero at the maximum to about −ΛD
℘ in the

minimum, and the minimum contains only closed strings, with no open string excitations
left [27, 45, 52]. Also these closed strings decay into final states not containing closed

11
string excitations, particularly the gravity [53–55]. These extrema and decays are possible
if |Lmix (T, χ≥2 )| is negligibly small but this smallness is not possible. It is in this sense that
the tachyon seems to fail in forming a low-energy effective field theory for the string.
The difficulty with the tachyon entails a natural question: Can the string ground level be
represented by a massless unstable scalar? If yes, can the massless string excitations develop
a low-energy effective action comprising gravity and matter? The answer is yes. Actually,
the answer is symmergence. It is so because the affine scalar curvature in symmergence
can well be the unstable scalar representing the string ground level. To see this, one first
observes that a general affine connection Γλµν transforms as a tensor (connection) in flat
(curved) spacetime and has, in general, nothing to do with the metric tensor. Its curvature,
the Ricci curvature Rµν (Γ) for instance, remains a genuine tensor field in both the flat and
curved spacetimes [18]. In fact, mimicking the tachyon action in (23) and remaining parallel
to the symmergent metric-affine action in (11), affine curvature can be attributed the action
( )
Z
√ c O 2 c2
M
SOS η, R = dD x −η − R − O R + b cOV tr [Vµ V µ ] R
  b
(24)
16 2

in the D-dimensional flat spacetime of the open string (D-brane). Here, R = η µν Rµν (Γ) is a
mass dimension-two scalar acting as the Higgs-like field promoting the mass-squared of the
string ground level. In essence, the affine action in (24) is a replacement for the tachyon
action in (23) since, after all, it involves a the scalar R in place of the tachyon T. They
differ from each other by the absence of the mixing term Lmix (T, χ≥2 ), and the reason for
this is that R is not a canonical massive scalar and, as will be seen in the sequel, Rµν (Γ)
consists of massless modes. The massless vector Vµ in the first excited level of the open
string must be present in the low-energy effective action and, for this to happen, Vµ must
couple to R and such a coupling is given at the lowest order either by the b
cOV term in (24)
or by V µ Rµν (Γ)V ν term in symmergence since gauge kinetic term is independent of the
c2 /b
connection. In the vacuum, ⟨Vµ ⟩ = 0 and −SOS [η, R] gets extremized at Rmax = −4M cO . O
c2 > 0 and b
This extremum becomes a maximum for M cO < 0 and being an unstable R
O

configuration it gives a representation of the open string ground level provided that b
cO and
c2 satisfy the relation Rmax = −4M
M c2 /bcO = 2πΛ2 . As was already discussed while deriving
O O ℘
c2 /2+b
(16) in Sec. II C, R = Rmax is the solution of the equation Q = M cO R/8 = 0 where Q is
O


what controls the motion equation Γ ∇λ Q1/3 η µν = 0. The other solution with Q ̸= 0 would
lead to R = 0 in flat spacetime as revealed by equation (18) in Sec. II C, and this means

12
complete destruction of the open string (D-brane). But before this destruction occurs closed
strings come into play as decay products. The massless dilatonic scalar ϕ and the massless
spin-2 field hµν in the first excited level of closed strings modify the massless spectrum. The
main effect of hµν is to generate a curved metric ηµν → ηµν + hµν = gµν in the same spirit
as the general covariance map in (5). Inclusion of these massless fields modifies the open
string action (24) to give it the closed string form
( )
Z
√ cC 2 M c2 cϕ †
D C µ
SCS [g, R] = d x −g − R − R − ϕ ϕR + (b
b b
cCV R + c̆CV R) tr [Vµ V ] (25)
16 2 4

in which R = g µν Rµν (Γ) is the affine scalar curvature, R = g µν Rµν (g Γ) is the metrical scalar
curvature, and b c2 , b
cC , M cCV are analogs of the open string constants b cO , Mc2 , b
cOV in (24).
C O

The new c̆CV term brings in the metrical curvature R and ensures this way that gµν is a
curved and invertible metric. The new b
cϕ term, on the other hand, couples R to the massless
scalars ϕ. There is no RR term because of the ghosts [56–58]. The instability of the closed
string is the instability of the entire spacetime hence its endpoint would be vacuous of gauge,
gravity, and matter in the absence of R, and in this sense, metrical terms like R, R2 and Rϕ† ϕ
are avoided as they can induce gravity by themselves. In the vacuum in which ⟨Vµ ⟩ = 0 and
⟨ϕ† ϕ⟩ ≪ M C cC = 8πΛ2 assuming,
c2 /b
c2 , the action −SCS [g, R] gets extremized at Rmax = −4M
C ℘

for simplicity, similar tensions for the closed and open strings. This extremum becomes a
maximum for M c2 > 0 and b cC < 0 and, as an unstable configuration, gives a representation
C

of the closed string ground level. In the language of (16), this is the Q = 0 solution with
Q=M c2 /2 + b
cC R/8. The other solution with Q ̸= 0, as revealed by equation (18) in Sec.
C

II C, leads to a nontrivial solution

c−2


Rmin = R + O MC (26)

in curved spacetime of the metric gµν . This solution sets up a minimum at Γ = Γmin following
the maximum at Γ = Γmax . Its replacement in the gauge part of (25) leads to the restoration
c−2 order if b
of gauge symmetries up to M cCV and c̆CV are related as
C

cCV = −c̆CV
b (27)

and in this minimum of the restored gauge symmetry, the rest of the action (25) reduces to
( )
Z
√ c2
M c C c ϕ
SCS [g] = SQF T [g, ψ] + dD x −g − C R − R2 − ϕ† ϕR
b b
(28)
2 16 4

13
after explicating the effective action SQF T [g, ψ] of the massless scalar, vector and spinor
string excitations ψ. The structure of gravity and matter in four dimensions depends on how
these massless excitations propagate in the (D − 4)–dimensional extra space. In case they
depend only on the four non-compact dimensions, the SCS [g] conforms to the symmergent
gravity action S[g] in (20) with the following parametric relations

MP2 l = VD−4 × M
cC2 , cO = VD−4 × b
cC , c ϕ = b
cϕ (29)

where VD−4 is the volume of the extra-dimensional space. This affine curvature condensation
mechanism is summarized in Fig. 2. As the figure shows, open strings (D-brane) end with
closed strings, and closed strings end with not the vacuity but the stringy symmergent gravity
in (28). In this regard, symmergence seems to be the key mechanism in both bottom-up
and top-down directions. It links string theory to the known physics at low energies via the
relations (29). It possesses the salient features below:

• Firstly, fermions can be coupled to the open string action (24) or the closed string
action (25) via the affine connection Γλµν in their spin connections. This fermionic
extension is not meant to introduce supersymmetry though imaginary-mass ground
levels exist also in realistic superstrings [27, 59].

• Secondly, the stringy symmergent action (28) is an R + R2 gravity theory like the
symmergent action (20). It contains a scalar graviton having a mass around Λ℘ .
This mode, like the tachyon, can mix with the massive string modes χ≥2 . It cannot
therefore be part of the low-energy spectrum. The action (28) contains a massless
spin-2 graviton, too. This massless graviton and the other massless fields in SQF T [g, ψ]
form a consistent low-energy effective field theory. It is in this sense that the affine
condensation does better than the tachyon condensation.

• Thirdly, the string ground-level actions in (24) and (25) are essentially toy models
illustrating the main physics implications. They are nevertheless robust in that they
are structured by eyeing the tachyon action (23). They give therefore information
about what kind of string field-theoretic structures are to be considered in describing
the ground-level instability [27, 46–51].

• Lastly, in this novel picture of affine curvature condensation, string theory is linked to
physics at low energies (the SM plus additional particles) via not only the compactifi-

14
 cation of the extra dimensions but also the emergence of gravity and gauge symmetries.
It seems that emergence could be the way string theory accesses the real world.

FIG. 2. Open strings (D-branes) end on closed strings and closed strings end on a finite minimum
with emergent gravity and gauge interactions. Structurally, the endpoint is the symmergent gravity.

IV. CONCLUSION

This work is composed of two parts. In the first part, we followed a bottom-up approach
to complete effective QFTs in the UV via affine curvature condensation. This has led to the
restoration of gauge interactions, the emergence of gravity, and the renormalization of the
underlying QFT. This mechanism, the symmergent gravity, intertwines gravity and quantum
fields, with the introduction of new particles that do not have to couple to the SM directly,
and with the allowance to suppress couplings to heavy fields for enabling stabilization of the
scalar masses. In this picture, gravity emerges upon flat spacetime effective QFT, and, in
a cosmological setting, the Universe starts out flat where the gauge forces and gravity take
shape in a time set by the UV cutoff. This symmergent gravity framework can be probed
via cosmic inflation [60] and reheating; black holes [61–67], wormholes and neutron stars;
and collider [68] and beyond-the-collider [34] experiments.

15
 In the second part, we followed a top-down approach to reveal that the instabilities in the
ground levels of the open and closed strings are better modeled by affine scalar curvature
rather than the tachyon. We have provided an affine curvature condensation picture of the
open string (D-brane) decay followed by the closed string decay. Here, the main novelty
is that the closed string ground state is described by the symmergent gravity, with model
parameters coming from strings, not the QFT. It may be that the string theory is linked to
the known physics at low energies not only by the compactification of extra dimensions but
also by the emergence of gravity along with the gauge interactions. This top-down approach
gives a stringy completion of the QFTs.
For future prospects, one research direction would be the explicit construction of the
string field theory that leads to the stringy metric-affine dynamics as a generalization pre-
sumably of the earlier works [27, 48–51]. Under symmergence, such a string field-theoretic
construction has the potential to determine the string parameters from the low-energy exper-
imental bounds (via for example the quadratic-curvature coefficient cO involving nB − nF ).
Another direction would be the analysis of the very early Universe where the usual quantum
gravity phase is replaced by flat spacetime [37–39]. Yet another direction would be a test of
the symmergence (including the stringy construction) in astrophysical compact objects like
neutron stars. There are actually various directions to investigate. In summary, with the re-
alization especially of the stringy completion, symmergent gravity can form a new framework
for investigating various astrophysical, cosmological, and collider phenomena [18, 23–25].

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Eric Ling for bringing Ref. [37] to my attention. I thank Orfeu Bertolami,
Patrick Das Gupta, Canan Karahan, Eric Ling, Sebastian Murk, Ali Övgün, Beyhan Puliçe,
Ozan Sargın, and Kai Schwenzer for fruitful discussions on different aspects of this work.

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