The Standard Model of particles and fields, including gravitation

In this conceptual paper, we explore the simplest way to incorporate gravitation as the fourth fundamental interaction within the Standard Model of particles and fields. Within the Standard Model, the strong interaction symmetry group SU(3)c is replaced by the group U(3)cg. This introduces a new gauge symmetry group, U(1)g, which can be interpreted as non-linear gravitation mediated by a massless but gravitationally charged, self-interacting gauge boson, that we refer to as the 'graviboson'. Gravitational Charge is defined as the Trace of the Energy-Momentum tensor. This definition is not an ad hoc assumption; rather, it is the answer to the following question: 'What is the Lorentz-invariant physical quantity that has a non-zero value for all the fundamental particles of the Standard Model, thereby ensuring the universality of gravitational interaction?' Notably, U(1)g gravity is a renormalizable quantum theory within U(3)cg unification. The results of Section 2 strongly suggest that U(1)g gravity passes all the classical tests of General relativity, making it worthy of further study. Due to a significant change in the topology of the quantum vacuum, the cosmological constant problem does not exist within the U(1)g framework. Generally, the total gravitational field is the sum of the currently known gravitational field and the gravitational field of the quantum vacuum, which is perturbed by the presence of immersed bodies. Each point-like body (such as a star) immersed in the quantum vacuum is both a gravitational charge and a topological defect. Consequently, there may be a halo of the perturbed quantum vacuum with a specific gravitational charge density surrounding the body. This suggests the existence of a variety of fascinating phenomena that warrant further exploration. These include topological phase transitions and potential explanations for phenomena typically associated with dark matter and dark energy. These phenomena may be the result of local and global effects arising from a perturbed quantum vacuum.