Compiled by the editorial desk with reference to the original research paper on arXiv and statements provided to Futurism by the researchers.

Two physicists at the California Institute of Technology have published a paper that may bring physicists closer to reconciling the two most successful yet incompatible theories in modern physics: general relativity and quantum mechanics. Their work, posted on the preprint server arXiv, suggests that the fabric of spacetime — and the gravity that warps it — could emerge from the quantum phenomenon of entanglement.

The idea is not entirely new. In the 1970s, Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein found a surprising connection between the surface area of a black hole and its microscopic quantum structure, which determines its entropy. That was the first hint that gravity and quantum mechanics might be linked. Then, in the late 1990s, theoretical physicist Juan Maldacena proposed a model in which spacetime could be created or destroyed by changing the amount of entanglement between different surface regions of an object — implying that spacetime itself, at least in mathematical models, is a product of entanglement.

Building on that foundation, Caltech researchers ChunJun Cao and Sean Carroll set out to test whether the dynamical properties of gravity, as described by Einstein's equations, could be derived using a framework where spacetime arises from quantum entanglement. Using an abstract mathematical construct called Hilbert space, they found that the equations governing quantum entanglement share structural similarities with Einstein's field equations of general relativity.

That similarity, the authors argue, supports the notion that spacetime and gravity are not fundamental but emerge from the quantum entanglement of underlying degrees of freedom. Carroll told Futurism that the next step is to verify the assumptions they made. “One of the most obvious ones is to check whether the symmetries of relativity are recovered in this framework, in particular, the idea that the laws of physics don't depend on how fast you are moving through space,” he said.

Why the gap between the two theories matters

General relativity explains gravity on cosmic scales — planets, stars, galaxies — while quantum mechanics governs the behavior of atoms and subatomic particles. Yet the two frameworks are mathematically incompatible. That incompatibility has driven physicists for decades to search for a “theory of everything,” a single set of equations that would unify all fundamental forces and explain the true nature of space and time.

Carroll believes the new research could advance that pursuit, but he is careful to temper expectations. “Our research doesn't say much, as yet, about the other forces of nature, so we're still quite far from fitting 'everything' together,” he told Futurism. The paper is speculative and limited in scope, he acknowledged.

If such a unified theory were ever found, it could help answer some of the biggest open questions in cosmology: the true nature of dark matter, dark energy, black holes, and other mysterious cosmic objects. It might also accelerate progress in quantum computing by revealing deeper insights into the quantum world, which researchers are already harnessing for new technologies.

Progress toward a theory of everything has been “spotty,” Carroll said, but each new line of inquiry — however speculative — moves the field incrementally closer. The Caltech paper adds a fresh mathematical thread to that ongoing effort, one that ties the strange logic of quantum entanglement to the geometry of the cosmos.