Two-dimensional Quantum Gravity

This Ph.D. thesis pursues two goals: The study of the geometrical structure of two-dimensional quantum gravity and in particular its fractal nature. To address these questions we review the continuum formalism of quantum gravity with special focus on the scaling properties of the theory. We discuss several concepts of fractal dimensions which characterize the extrinsic and intrinsic geometry of quantum gravity. This work is partly based on work done in collaboration with Jan Ambj{\o}rn, Dimitrij Boulatov, Jakob L. Nielsen and Yoshiyuki Watabiki (1997). The other goal is the discussion of the discretization of quantum gravity and to address the so called quantum failure of Regge calculus. We review dynamical triangulations and show that it agrees with the continuum theory in two dimensions. Then we discuss Regge calculus and prove that a continuum limit cannot be taken in a sensible way and that it does not reproduce continuum results. This work is partly based on work done in collaboration with Jan Ambj{\o}rn, Jakob L. Nielsen and George Savvidy (1997).Comment: 90 pages, PhD thesis at the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhage

Directed Percolation Universality in Asynchronous Evolution of Spatio-Temporal Intermittency

We present strong evidence that a coupled-map-lattice model for spatio-temporal intermittency belongs to the universality class of directed percolation when the updating rules are asynchronous, i.e. when only one randomly chosen site is evolved at each time step. In contrast, when the system is subjected to parallel updating, available numerical evidence suggests that it does not belong to this universality class and that it is not even universal. We argue that in the absence of periodic external forcing, the asynchronous rule is the more physical.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, includes 6 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters; changed version includes a better physical motivation for asynchronous updates, extra references and minor change

Schr\"odinger functional at N_f=-2

We study the Schr\"odinger functional coupling for lattice Yang-Mills theory coupled to an improved bosonic spinor field, which corresponds to QCD with minus two light flavors. This theory serves as a less costly testcase than QCD for the scaling of the coupling.Comment: Lattice2001(improvement) 3 pages, 4 figure

Computation of the strong coupling in QCD with two dynamical flavours

We present a non-perturbative computation of the running of the coupling alpha_s in QCD with two flavours of dynamical fermions in the Schroedinger functional scheme. We improve our previous results by a reliable continuum extrapolation. The Lambda-parameter characterizing the high-energy running is related to the value of the coupling at low energy in the continuum limit. An estimate of Lambda*r_0 is given using large-volume data with lattice spacings a from 0.07 fm to 0.1 fm. It translates into Lambda_{MSbar}^{(2)}=245(16)(16) MeV [assuming r_0=0.5 fm]. The last step still has to be improved to reduce the uncertainty.Comment: 34 pages including figures and tables, latex2

Non-perturbative quark mass renormalization in two-flavor QCD

The running of renormalized quark masses is computed in lattice QCD with two flavors of massless O(a) improved Wilson quarks. The regularization and flavor independent factor that relates running quark masses to the renormalization group invariant ones is evaluated in the Schroedinger Functional scheme. Using existing data for the scale r_0 and the pseudoscalar meson masses, we define a reference quark mass in QCD with two degenerate quark flavors. We then compute the renormalization group invariant reference quark mass at three different lattice spacings. Our estimate for the continuum value is converted to the strange quark mass with the help of chiral perturbation theory.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures; sections 1 and 4 rearranged, minor change to the summary plo

Lattice HQET with exponentially improved statistical precision

We introduce an alternative discretization for static quarks on the lattice retaining the O(a) improvement properties of the Eichten-Hill action. In this formulation, statistical fluctuations are reduced by a factor which grows exponentially with Euclidean time, x_0. For the first time, B-meson correlation functions are computed with good statistical precision in the static approximation for x_0>1 fm. At lattice spacings a \approx 0.1 fm, a \approx 0.08 fm and a \approx 0.07 fm the B_s-meson decay constant is determined in static and quenched approximations. A correction due to the finite mass of the b-quark is estimated by combining these static results with a recent determination of F_Ds.Comment: Eqs. 14 and 15 corrected. Changes by up to 1 sigma in Table 1, Eq. 22 changed consequently. Result in Eq. 24 unchange

The charm quark's mass in quenched QCD

We present our preliminary result for the charmed quark mass, which follows from taking the D_s and K meson masses from experiment and r0=0.5 fm (or, equivalently F_K=160 MeV) to set the scale. For the renormalization group invariant quark mass we obtain M_c = 1684(64) MeV, which translates to m_c(m_c)= 1314 (40)(20)(7) MeV for the running mass in the MSbar scheme. Renormalization is treated non-perturbatively, and the continuum limit has been taken, so that the only uncontrolled systematic error consists in the use of the quenched approximation.Comment: Lattice2001(spectrum), 3 page