Quantum gravity suffers from the non-renormalizability and the unboundedness of the Einstein action. Non-perturbative methods may be crucial for an understanding. The lattice has become an important tool in probing the non-perturbative structure of field theories and could provide valuable hints in understanding quantum gravity as well. / Regge calculus has been used to make preliminary non-perturbative, numerical investigations of the theory. First simulations revealed the existence of an entropy dominated phase, where expectation values of physical quantities were stable. As a first step towards a more realistic theory, we couple a SU(2) field to gravity on the Regge skeleton to see whether the entropy dominated phase would allow the hadronic masses to be chosen arbitrarily small compared to the Planck mass and simultaneously allow the space to become flat on the hadronic scale. / We observe the existence of an entropy dominated phase in simulations on a 4$\sp3 \cdot 2$ lattice and study the phase diagram. The Polyakov loop is used as the order parameter and shows hysteresis, indicating a phase transition. However, to provide modest evidence for the scenario outlined above would require simulations on a larger system $(8\sp3 \cdot\ 4)$, currently outside the scope of our computing resources. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-07, Section: B, page: 3676. / Major Professor: Bernd A. Berg. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76979 |
| Contributors | Krishnan, Balasubramanian., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 113 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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