Towards a Unified Effective Field Framework for Gravity and Confining Color: A Lagrangian- and Symmetry-Based Reconstruction

We present a symmetry-respecting, action-based gravity–color portal EFT that couples linearized gravity to SU(3) in a controlled power counting. Beyond removing inconsistencies in earlier drafts, we provide quantitative, model-independent constraints: (i) curvature-induced shifts of the string tension, (ii) a forward-limit positivity inequality for curvature–gluon operators, and (iii) a perturbative unitarity ceiling on portal strengths. These results define a clear baseline for confronting lattice and astrophysical inputs, rather than a UV portal-based