Gravity's Scalar Cousin

Abstract

The ``dilaton'', the Goldstone boson of spontaneously broken conformal field theories (in flat spacetime), is argued to provide a surprisingly provocative scalar analog of gravity. Many precise parallels and contrasts are drawn. In particular, the Equivalence Principle, the Cosmological Constant Problem, and the tension between them is shown to be closely replicated. Also, there is a striking transition when mass is compressed within the (analog) Schwarzchild radius. The scalar analogy may provide a simpler context in which to think about some of the puzzles posed by real gravity.