Scale-dependent Hausdorff dimensions in 2d gravity

By appropriate scaling of coupling constants a one-parameter family of ensembles of two-dimensional geometries is obtained, which interpolates between the ensembles of (generalized) causal dynamical triangulations and ordinary dynamical triangulations. We study the fractal properties of the associated continuum geometries and identify both global and local Hausdorff dimensions.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

The bosonic string and superstring models in 26+2 and 10+2 dimensional space--time, and the generalized Chern-Simons action

We have covariantized the Lagrangians of the U(1)_V * U(1)_A models, which have U(1)_V * U(1)_A gauge symmetry in two dimensions, and studied their symmetric structures. The special property of the U(1)_V * U(1)_A models is the fact that all these models have an extra time coordinate in the target space-time. The U(1)_V * U(1)_A models coupled to two-dimensional gravity are string models in 26+2 dimensional target space-time for bosonic string and in 10+2 dimensional target space-time for superstring. Both string models have two time coordinates. In order to construct the covariant Lagrangians of the U(1)_V * U(1)_A models the generalized Chern-Simons term plays an important role. The supersymmetric generalized Chern-Simons action is also proposed. The Green-Schwarz type of U(1)_V * U(1)_A superstring model has another fermionic local symmetry as well as \kappa-symmetry. The supersymmetry of target space-time is different from the standard one.Comment: 27 pages, no figure

The quantum space-time of c=-2 gravity

We study the fractal structure of space-time of two-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to c=-2 conformal matter by means of computer simulations. We find that the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension d_H = 3.58 +/- 0.04. This result supports the conjecture d_H = -2 \alpha_1/\alpha_{-1}, where \alpha_n is the gravitational dressing exponent of a spinless primary field of conformal weight (n+1,n+1), and it disfavours the alternative prediction d_H = 2/|\gamma|. On the other hand ~ r^{2n} for n>1 with good accuracy, i.e. the boundary length l has an anomalous dimension relative to the area of the surface.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures, 32 eps files, using psfig.sty and epsf.st

Quantum Geometry and Diffusion

We study the diffusion equation in two-dimensional quantum gravity, and show that the spectral dimension is two despite the fact that the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension of the ensemble of two-dimensional geometries is very different from two. We determine the scaling properties of the quantum gravity averaged diffusion kernel.Comment: latex2e, 10 pages, 4 figure

Transfer Matrix Formalism for Two-Dimensional Quantum Gravity and Fractal Structures of Space-time

We develop a transfer matrix formalism for two-dimensional pure gravity. By taking the continuum limit, we obtain a "Hamiltonian formalism'' in which the geodesic distance plays the role of time. Applying this formalism, we obtain a universal function which describes the fractal structures of two dimensional quantum gravity in the continuum limit.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, phyzz

Intrinsic Geometric Structure of c=−2c=-2 Quantum Gravity

We couple c=-2 matter to 2-dimensional gravity within the framework of dynamical triangulations. We use a very fast algorithm, special to the c=-2 case, in order to test scaling of correlation functions defined in terms of geodesic distance and we determine the fractal dimension d_H with high accuracy. We find d_H=3.58(4), consistent with a prediction coming from the study of diffusion in the context of Liouville theory, and that the quantum space-time possesses the same fractal properties at all distance scales similarly to the case of pure gravity

Baby Universes Revisited

The behaviour of baby universes has been an important ingredient in understanding and quantifying non-critical string theory or, equivalently, models of two-dimensional Euclidean quantum gravity coupled to matter. Within a regularized description based on dynamical triangulations, we amend an earlier conjecture by Jain and Mathur on the scaling behaviour of genus-$g$ surfaces containing particular baby universe `necks', and perform a nontrivial numerical check on our improved conjecture.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Random Planar Lattices and Integrated SuperBrownian Excursion

In this paper, a surprising connection is described between a specific brand of random lattices, namely planar quadrangulations, and Aldous' Integrated SuperBrownian Excursion (ISE). As a consequence, the radius r_n of a random quadrangulation with n faces is shown to converge, up to scaling, to the width r=R-L of the support of the one-dimensional ISE. More generally the distribution of distances to a random vertex in a random quadrangulation is described in its scaled limit by the random measure ISE shifted to set the minimum of its support in zero. The first combinatorial ingredient is an encoding of quadrangulations by trees embedded in the positive half-line, reminiscent of Cori and Vauquelin's well labelled trees. The second step relates these trees to embedded (discrete) trees in the sense of Aldous, via the conjugation of tree principle, an analogue for trees of Vervaat's construction of the Brownian excursion from the bridge. From probability theory, we need a new result of independent interest: the weak convergence of the encoding of a random embedded plane tree by two contour walks to the Brownian snake description of ISE. Our results suggest the existence of a Continuum Random Map describing in term of ISE the scaled limit of the dynamical triangulations considered in two-dimensional pure quantum gravity.Comment: 44 pages, 22 figures. Slides and extended abstract version are available at http://www.loria.fr/~schaeffe/Pub/Diameter/ and http://www.iecn.u-nancy.fr/~chassain

Lorentzian and Euclidean Quantum Gravity - Analytical and Numerical Results

We review some recent attempts to extract information about the nature of quantum gravity, with and without matter, by quantum field theoretical methods. More specifically, we work within a covariant lattice approach where the individual space-time geometries are constructed from fundamental simplicial building blocks, and the path integral over geometries is approximated by summing over a class of piece-wise linear geometries. This method of ``dynamical triangulations'' is very powerful in 2d, where the regularized theory can be solved explicitly, and gives us more insights into the quantum nature of 2d space-time than continuum methods are presently able to provide. It also allows us to establish an explicit relation between the Lorentzian- and Euclidean-signature quantum theories. Analogous regularized gravitational models can be set up in higher dimensions. Some analytic tools exist to study their state sums, but, unlike in 2d, no complete analytic solutions have yet been constructed. However, a great advantage of our approach is the fact that it is well-suited for numerical simulations. In the second part of this review we describe the relevant Monte Carlo techniques, as well as some of the physical results that have been obtained from the simulations of Euclidean gravity. We also explain why the Lorentzian version of dynamical triangulations is a promising candidate for a non-perturbative theory of quantum gravity.Comment: 69 pages, 16 figures, references adde

The F model on dynamical quadrangulations

The dynamically triangulated random surface (DTRS) approach to Euclidean quantum gravity in two dimensions is considered for the case of the elemental building blocks being quadrangles instead of the usually used triangles. The well-known algorithmic tools for treating dynamical triangulations in a Monte Carlo simulation are adapted to the problem of these dynamical quadrangulations. The thus defined ensemble of 4-valent graphs is appropriate for coupling to it the 6- and 8-vertex models of statistical mechanics. Using a series of extensive Monte Carlo simulations and accompanying finite-size scaling analyses, we investigate the critical behaviour of the 6-vertex F model coupled to the ensemble of dynamical quadrangulations and determine the matter related as well as the graph related critical exponents of the model.Comment: LaTeX, 43 pages, 10 figures, 7 tables; substantially shortened and revised version as published, for more details refer to V1, to be found at http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-lat/0409028v