Gravity from thermodynamics in vacuum: Lorentz invariance and the role of Bel–Robinson tensor

Abstract

Thermodynamics of local causal horizons has been shown to encode the information necessary to derive the equations governing the gravitational dynamics. We have previously argued that, in the presence of matter, this derivation further implies quantum phenomenological corrections to gravitational dynamics. Herein, we study whether similar corrections also occur in vacuum. We show that, under the assumptions of locality and local Lorentz invariance of physics, the vacuum dynamics is prescribed by the Einstein equations. We also discuss an alternative paradigm which assumes the existence of a preferred direction of time (much like in Einstein-aether or Hořava–Lifshitz gravity). Then, we find an modified gravitational dynamics in which Ricci curvature is sourced by Bel–Robinson super-energy.