{
  "abstract": "The existence of energy is the main criterion for (i) providing a common core to the materiality of all types of classical matter and (ii) denying that the gravitational field of General Relativity is a type of matter. Extending this criterion to quantum field theory, though formally straightforward, carries new conceptual consequences for the interpretation of gravity. Renormalization of the quantum matter stress-energy tensor forces a local, purely geometric term, built from the metric alone, into the conserved stress-energy, and this has two faces. It grants the metric a material significance alongside its spatio-temporal one (the egalitarian view); and it binds gravitational to non-gravitational energy so tightly that the two cannot be split apart without a choice of vacuum that a generic spacetime does not supply (the unificationist view). The latter poses a dilemma: either gravitational energy is meaningless, but then so is the energy of the non-gravitational quantum fields, and only classical fields remain matter; or both are meaningful, and the metric thereby acquires the material significance of a matter field. On neither horn does the classical divide between matter and spacetime survive quantization.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.10588",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Antonio Ferreiro"
    },
    {
      "name": "Andrea Cavallaro"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/422k7me0ffafn.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.10588",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "422k7me0ffafn",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10588",
  "language": null,
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  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "gr-qc"
    ],
    [
      "arxiv",
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    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3103|Relativity and Gravitational Theory"
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  "openalex": "W7221172242",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.10588",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-06",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/422k7me0ffafn.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:27:54Z",
      "native_id": "2610.10588",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.10588"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:gr-qc",
      "subfield": "gravitation"
    }
  ],
  "title": "When quantum field theory kicks in: the relation between matter, gravity and energy",
  "title_text": "When quantum field theory kicks in: the relation between matter, gravity and energy",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:27:54Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/422k7me0ffafn",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}