A Note on the Action in d>4 Dynamical Triangulations

For dynamical triangulations in dimensions d<=4 the most general action has two couplings. We note that the most general action for d=5 has three couplings. We explore this larger coupling space using Monte Carlo simulations. Initial results indicate evidence for non-trivial phase structure.Comment: 3 page contribution to Lattice'97 proceeding

Phase diagram of four-dimensional dynamical triangulations with a boundary

We report on simulations of DT simplicial gravity for manifolds with the topology of the 4-disk. We find evidence for four phases in a two-dimensional parameter space. In two of these the boundary plays no dynamical role and the geometries are equivalent to those observed earlier for the sphere $S^4$. In another phase the boundary is maximal and the quantum geometry degenerates to a one dimensional branched polymer. In contrast we provide evidence that the fourth phase is effectively three-dimensional. We find discontinuous phase transitions at all the phase boundaries.Comment: 13 pages, late

First results from simulations of supersymmetric lattices

We conduct the first numerical simulations of lattice theories with exact supersymmetry arising from the orbifold constructions of \cite{Cohen:2003xe,Cohen:2003qw,Kaplan:2005ta}. We consider the \cQ=4 theory in $D=0,2$ dimensions and the \cQ=16 theory in $D=0,2,4$ dimensions. We show that the U(N) theories do not possess vacua which are stable non-perturbatively, but that this problem can be circumvented after truncation to SU(N). We measure the distribution of scalar field eigenvalues, the spectrum of the fermion operator and the phase of the Pfaffian arising after integration over the fermions. We monitor supersymmetry breaking effects by measuring a simple Ward identity. Our results indicate that simulations of ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills may be achievable in the near future.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 9 tables. 3 references adde

Twisted lattice supersymmetry and applications to AdS/CFT

I review recent approaches to constructing supersymmetric lattice theories focusing in particular on the concept of topological twisting. The latter technique is shown to expose a nilpotent, scalar supersymmetry which can be implemented exactly in the lattice theory. Using these ideas a lattice action for $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills in four dimensions can be written down which is gauge invariant, free of fermion doublers and respects one out of a total of 16 continuum supersymmetries. It is shown how these exact symmetries together with the large point group symmetry of the lattice strongly constrain the possible counterterms needed to renormalize the theory and hence determine how much residual fine tuning will be needed to restore all supersymmetries in the continuum limit. We report on progress to study these renormalization effects at one loop. We go on to give examples of applications of these supersymmetric lattice theories to explore the connections between gauge theories and gravity.Comment: 16 pages. Plenary talk at Lattice 201

Notes on (twisted) lattice supersymmetry

We describe a new approach to the problem of putting supersymmetric theories on the lattice. The basic idea is to discretize a {\it twisted} formulation of the supersymmetric theory. For certain theories with extended supersymmetry these twisted formulations contain only integer spin fields. The twisting exposes a scalar nilpotent supercharge which generates an exact lattice symmetry. We gives examples from quantum mechanics, sigma models and Yang-Mills theories.Comment: Summary of lectures given at the Summer Institute 2005 Fuji-Yoshida, Japan August 11-18, 200

On the restoration of supersymmetry in twisted two-dimensional lattice Yang-Mills theory

We study a discretization of ${\cal N}=2$ super Yang-Mills theory which possesses a single exact supersymmetry at non-zero lattice spacing. This supersymmetry arises after a reformulation of the theory in terms of {\it twisted} fields. In this paper we derive the action of the other twisted supersymmetries on the component fields and study, using Monte Carlo simulation, a series of corresponding Ward identities. Our results for SU(2) and SU(3) support a restoration of these additional supersymmetries without fine tuning in the infinite volume continuum limit. Additionally we present evidence supporting a restoration of (twisted) rotational invariance in the same limit. Finally we have examined the distribution of scalar field eigenvalues and find evidence for power law tails extending out to large eigenvalue. We argue that these tails indicate that the classical moduli space does not survive in the quantum theory.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures, 18 tables. Results section rewritten to include discussion of phase quenching, continuum scaling and thermal boundary conditions. Version to be published in JHE

Exact Lattice Supersymmetry from Topological Field Theory

We discuss the connection between supersymmetric field theories and topological field theories and show how this connection may be used to construct local lattice field theories which maintain an exact supersymmetry. It is shown how metric independence of the continuum topological field theory allows us to derive the lattice theory by blocking out of the continuum in a deformed geometry. This, in turn, allows us to prove the cut-off independence of certain supersymmetric Ward identities.Comment: Lattice2003(theory

Lattice Supersymmetry via Twisting

We describe how the usual supercharges of extended supersymmetry may be {\it twisted} to produce a BRST-like supercharge $Q$. The usual supersymmetry algebra is then replaced by a twisted algebra and the action of the twisted theory is shown to be generically $Q$-exact. In flat space the twisting procedure can be regarded as a change of variables carrying no physical significance. However, the twisted theories can often be transferred to the lattice while preserving the twisted supersymmetry. As an example we construct a lattice version of the two-dimensional supersymmetric sigma model.Comment: Contribution to Lattice2004(theory

Three dimensional lattice gravity as supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory

We argue that a certain twisted supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in three dimensions with gauge group SU(2) possesses a set of topological observables whose expectation values can be computed in a related Chern Simons theory. This Chern Simons theory has been proposed as a definition of three dimensional Euclidean quantum gravity. Since the YM theory admits a discretization which preserves the values of topological observables we conjecture that it can be used as a non-perturbative definition of the quantum gravity theory.Comment: 8 pages. Contribution to Lattice 201