arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J. Ambjorn.
We propose a non-critical string field theory for $2d$ quantum gravity coupled to ($p$,$q$) conformal fields. The Hamiltonian is described by the generators of the $W_p$ algebra, and the Schwinger-Dyson equation is equivalent to a vacuum condition imposed on the generators of $W_p$ algebra.
The model of p Ising spins coupled to 2d gravity, in the form of a sum over planar phi-cubed graphs, is studied and in particular the two-point and spin-spin correlation functions are considered. We first solve a toy model in which only a partial summation over spin configurations is performed and, using a modified geodesic distance, various correlation functions are determined. The two-point function has a diverging length scale associated with it. The critical exponents are calculated and it is shown that all the standard scaling relations apply. Next the full model is studied, in which all spin configurations are included. Many of the considerations for the toy model apply for the full model, which also has a diverging geometric correlation length associated with the transition to a branched polymer phase. Using a transfer function we show that the two-point and spin-spin correlation functions decay exponentially with distance. Finally, by assuming various scaling relations, we make a prediction for the critical exponents at the transition between the magnetized and branched polymer phases in the full model.
We provide evidence that the Hausdorff dimension is 4 and the spectral dimension is 2 for two-dimensional quantum gravity coupled the matter with a central charge $c \leq 1$. For $c > 1$ the Hausdorff dimension and the spectral dimension monotonously decreases to 2 and 1, respectively.
We show how it is possible to formulate Euclidean two-dimensional quantum gravity as the scaling limit of an ordinary statistical system by means of dynamical triangulations, which can be viewed as a discretization in the space of equivalence classes of metrics. Scaling relations exist and the critical exponents have simple geometric interpretations. Hartle-Hawkings wave functionals as well as reparametrization invariant correlation functions which depend on the geodesic distance can be calculated. The discretized approach makes sense even in higher dimensional space-time. Although analytic solutions are still missing in the higher dimensional case, numerical studies reveal an interesting structure and allow the identification of a fixed point where we can hope to define a genuine non-perturbative theory of four-dimensional quantum gravity.
The 2-point function is the natural object in quantum gravity for extracting critical behavior: The exponential fall off of the 2-point function with geodesic distance determines the fractal dimension $d_H$ of space-time. The integral of the 2-point function determines the entropy exponent $γ$, i.e. the fractal structure related to baby universes, while the short distance behavior of the 2-point function connects $γ$ and $d_H$ by a quantum gravity version of Fisher's scaling relation. We verify this behavior in the case of 2d gravity by explicit calculation.
It is known that there are four-manifolds which are not algorithmically recognizable. This implies that there exist triangulations of these manifolds which are separated by large barriers from the point of view of the computer algorithm. We have not observed these barriers for triangulations of $S^4$.
We measure by Monte Carlo simulations $\g_{string}$ for a model of random surfaces embedded in three dimensional Euclidean space-time. The action of the string is the usual Polyakov action plus an extrinsic curvature term. The system undergoes a phase transition at a finite value $ł_c$ of the extrinsic curvature coupling and at the transition point the numerically measured value of $\g_{string}(ł_c) \approx 0.27\pm 0.06$. This is consistent with $\g_{string}(ł_c)=1/4$, i.e. equal to the first of the non-trivial values of $\g_{string}$ between 0 and $1/2$.
A modified Wilson action which suppresses plaquettes which take negative values is used to study the scaling behavior of the string tension. The use of the $\b_E$ scheme gives good agreement with asymptotic two loop results.
Simplicial quantum gravity has been proposed as a regularization for four dimensional quantum gravity. The partition function is constructed by performing a weighted sum over all triangulations of the 4-sphere. The model is well-defined only if the number of such triangulations consisting of $N$ simplexes is exponentially bounded. Numerical simulations seem so far to favor such a bound.
We give a complete description of the genus expansion of the one-cut solution to the generalized Penner model. The solution is presented in a form which allows us in a very straightforward manner to localize critical points and to investigate the scaling behaviour of the model in the vicinity of these points. We carry out an analysis of the critical behaviour to all genera addressing all types of multi-critical points. In certain regions of the coupling constant space the model must be defined via analytical continuation. We show in detail how this works for the Penner model. Using analytical continuation it is possible to reach the fermionic 1-matrix model. We show that the critical points of the fermionic 1-matrix model can be indexed by an integer, $m$, as it was the case for the ordinary hermitian 1-matrix model. Furthermore the $m$'th multi-critical fermionic model has to all genera the same value of $γ_{str}$ as the $m$'th multi-critical hermitian model. However, the coefficients of the topological expansion need not be the same in the two cases. We show explicitly how it is possible with a fermionic matrix model to reach a $m=2$ multi-critical point for which the topological expansion has alternating signs, but otherwise coincides with the usual Painlevé expansion.
We consider a model of discretized 2d gravity interacting with Ising spins where phase boundaries are restricted to have minimal length and show analytically that the critical exponent $γ= 1/3$ at the spin transition point. The model captures the numerically observed behavior of standard multiple Ising spins coupled to 2d gravity.
We study the spectrum of the Dirac Hamiltonian in the presence of high temperature sphaleron-like fluctuations of the electroweak gauge and Higgs fields, relevant for the conditions prevailing in the early universe. The fluctuations are created by numerical lattice simulations. It is shown that a change in Chern-Simons number by one unit is accompanied by eigenvalues crossing zero and a change of sign of the generalized chirality $\tGf= (-1)^{2T+1} \gf$ which labels these modes. This provides further evidence that the sphaleron-like configurations observed in lattice simulations may be viewed as representing continuum configurations.
We propose a new, very efficient algorithm for sampling of random surfaces in the Monte Carlo simulations, based on so-called baby universe surgery, i.e. cutting and pasting of baby universes. It drastically reduces slowing down as compared to the standard local flip algorithm, thereby allowing simulations of large random surfaces coupled to matter fields. As an example we investigate the efficiency of the algorithm for 2d simplicial gravity interacting with a one-component free scalar field. The radius of gyration is the slowest mode in the standard local flip/shift algorithm. The use of baby universe surgery decreases the autocorrelation time by three order of magnitude for a random surface of $0.5 \cdot 10^5$ triangles, where it is found to be $τ_{int} = 150 \pm 31$ sweeps.
We investigate the fractal structure of $2d$ quantum gravity coupled to matter by measuring the distributions of so-called baby universes. We demonstrate that the method works well as long as $c \leq 1$. For $c >1$ it is not clear what distribution to expect. However, we observe strikingly similar distributions for various kinds of matter fields with the same $c$. This indicate that there might be some range of $c >1$ where the central charge of the matter fields alone determines the fractal structure of gravity coupled to matter. The hypothesis that the string susceptibility $\g = 1/3$ is found to be compatible with the data for $1 < c \leq 4$.
We investigate the fractal structure of $2d$ quantum gravity coupled to matter by measuring the distributions of so-called baby universes. We demonstrate that the method works well as long as $c \leq 1$. For $c >1$ it is not clear what distribution to expect. However, we observe strikingly similar distributions for various kinds of matter fields with the same $c$. This indicate that there might be some range of $c >1$ where the central charge of the matter fields alone determines the fractal structure of gravity coupled to matter. The hypothesis that the string susceptibility $\g = 1/3$ is found to be compatible with the data for $1 < c \leq 4$.
We investigate the fractal structure of $2d$ quantum gravity, both for pure gravity and for gravity coupled to multiple gaussian fields and for gravity coupled to Ising spins. The roughness of the surfaces is described in terms of baby universes and using numerical simulations we measure their distribution which is related to the string susceptibility exponent $\g_{string}$.
We measure the fractal structure of four dimensional simplicial quantum gravity by identifying so-called baby universes. This allows an easy determination of the critical exponent $\g$ connected to the entropy of four-dimensional manifolds.
We investigate the phase structure of four-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to Ising spins or Gaussian scalar fields by means of numerical simulations. The quantum gravity part is modelled by the summation over random simplicial manifolds, and the matter fields are located in the center of the 4-simplices, which constitute the building blocks of the manifolds. We find that the coupling between spin and geometry is weak away from the critical point of the Ising model. At the critical point there is clear coupling, which qualitatively agrees with that of gaussian fields coupled to gravity. In the case of pure gravity a transition between a phase with highly connected geometry and a phase with very ``dilute'' geometry has been observed earlier. The nature of this transition seems unaltered when matter fields are included. It was the hope that continuum physics could be extracted at the transition between the two types of geometries. The coupling to matter fields, at least in the form discussed in this paper, seems not to improve the scaling of the curvature at the transition point.