Poster presented by Bengt Petersson

Poster Session

Topic: Gravity and Random Surfaces

The weak-coupling limit of simplicial quantum gravity

Abstract: In the weak-coupling limit, $kappa_0 rightarrow infty$, the partition function of simplicial quantum gravity is dominated by an ensemble of triangulations with the ratio $N_0/N_D$ close to the upper kinematic limit. For a combinatorial triangulation of the $D$-sphere this limit is $1/D$. Defining an ensemble of {it maximal} triangulations, i.e. triangulations that have the maximal possible number of vertices for a given volume, we investigate the properties of this ensemble in three dimensions using both Monte Carlo simulations and a strong-coupling expansion of the partition function, both for pure simplicial gravity and a with a suitable modified measure. For the latter we observe a continuous phase transition to a {it crinkled} phase and we investigate the fractal properties of this phase.

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