Discrete approaches to quantum gravity in four dimensions

The construction of a consistent theory of quantum gravity is a problem in theoretical physics that has so far defied all attempts at resolution. One ansatz to try to obtain a non-trivial quantum theory proceeds via a discretization of space-time and the Einstein action. I review here three major areas of research: gauge-theoretic approaches, both in a path-integral and a Hamiltonian formulation, quantum Regge calculus, and the method of dynamical triangulations, confining attention to work that is strictly four-dimensional, strictly discrete, and strictly quantum in nature.Comment: 33 pages, invited contribution to Living Reviews in Relativity; the author welcomes any comments and suggestion

Measuring the string tension in random surface models with extrinsic curvature

A highly vectorized FORTRAN program for Monte Carlo simulation of dynamical triangulated random surfaces with extrinsic curvature is presented. It is an implementation of a new procedure to measure the string tension. We summarize the method and give a detailed description of the program