Space-time as a causal set
- 3 August 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 59 (5) , 521-524
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.59.521
Abstract
We propose that space-time at the smallest scales is in reality a causal set: a locally finite set of elements endowed with a partial order corresponding to the macroscopic relation that defines past and future. We explore how a Lorentzian manifold can approximate a causal set, noting in particular that the thereby defined effective dimensionality of a given causal set can vary with length scale. Finally, we speculate briefly on the quantum dynamics of causal sets, indicating why an appropriate choice of action can reproduce general relativity in the classical limit.Keywords
This publication has 11 references indexed in Scilit:
- Low-energy limit of stringsPhysical Review D, 1985
- Strings in background fieldsNuclear Physics B, 1985
- Equations of Motion for the Heterotic String Theory from the Conformal Invariance of the Sigma ModelPhysical Review Letters, 1985
- Einstein gravitation as a long wavelength effective field theoryPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1983
- expansion and renormalization in quantum gravityPhysics Letters B, 1977
- Renormalization of higher-derivative quantum gravityPhysical Review D, 1977
- The class of continuous timelike curves determines the topology of spacetimeJournal of Mathematical Physics, 1977
- A new topology for curved space–time which incorporates the causal, differential, and conformal structuresJournal of Mathematical Physics, 1976
- Space-Time CodePhysical Review B, 1969
- On the structure of causal spacesMathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1967