  It is shown that gravitation naturally emerges from the standard model of
particle physics if local scale invariance is imposed in the context of a
single conformal (Weyl-symmetric) theory. Gravitation is then
conformally-related to the standard model via a conformal transformation,
merely a function of the number of fermionic particles dominating the energy
density associated with the ground state of the physical system. Doing so
resolves major puzzles afflicting the standard models of particle physics and
cosmology, clearly indicating these to be artifacts stemming from universally
employing the system of units selected here and now. In addition to the three
known fundamental interactions mediated by gauge bosons, a scalar-tensor
interaction is also accommodated by the theory; its inertial and gravitational
sectors are characterized by whether contributions to the Weyl tensor vanish or
are finite, respectively. In this approach both inertia and gravity are viewed
as collective phenomena, with characteristic gravitational Planck scale devoid
of fundamental meaning; consequently, mass hierarchy and Higgs mass instability
concerns are avoided altogether. Only standard model particles gravitate; dark
matter and dark energy have an inertial origin, and since the Higgs field does
not interact with photons it is an ideal candidate for explaining the dark
sector of cosmology. On cosmological scales the dynamical vacuum-like Higgs
self-coupling accounts for dark energy, and its observed proximity at present
to the energy density of nonrelativistic matter is merely a consistency
requirement. Spatially varying vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field
could likely account for the apparent cold dark matter on both galactic and
cosmological scales.
