Pseudo-Cartesian coordinates in a model of Causal Dynamical Triangulations

Causal Dynamical Triangulations is a non-perturbative quantum gravity model, defined with a lattice cut-off. The model can be viewed as defined with a proper time but with no reference to any three-dimensional spatial background geometry. It has four phases, depending on the parameters (the coupling constants) of the model. The particularly interesting behavior is observed in the so-called de Sitter phase, where the spatial three-volume distribution as a function of proper time has a semi-classical behavior which can be obtained from an effective mini-superspace action. In the case of the three-sphere spatial topology, it has been difficult to extend the effective semi-classical description in terms of proper time and spatial three-volume to include genuine spatial coordinates, partially because of the background independence inherent in the model. However, if the spatial topology is that of a three-torus, it is possible to define a number of new observables that might serve as spatial coordinates as well as new observables related to the winding numbers of the three-dimensional torus. The present paper outlines how to define the observables, and how they can be used in numerical simulations of the model.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figure

Fundamental Domains in Lorentzian Geometry

We consider discrete subgroups Gamma of the simply connected Lie group SU~(1,1), the universal cover of SU(1,1), of finite level, i.e. the subgroup intersects the centre of SU~(1,1) in a subgroup of finite index, this index is called the level of the group. The Killing form induces a Lorentzian metric of constant curvature on the Lie group SU~(1,1). The discrete subgroup Gamma acts on SU~(1,1) by left translations. We describe the Lorentz space form SU~(1,1)/Gamma by constructing a fundamental domain F for Gamma. We want F to be a polyhedron with totally geodesic faces. We construct such F for all Gamma satisfying the following condition: The image of Gamma in PSU(1,1) has a fixed point u in the unit disk of order larger than the index of Gamma. The construction depends on the group Gamma and on the orbit Gamma(u) of the fixed point u.Comment: 16 pages with 5 figures; typos corrected; introduction complete