The transfer matrix in four-dimensional Causal Dynamical Triangulations

Abstract

Causal Dynamical Triangulations is a background independent approach to quantum gravity. In this paper we introduce a phenomenological transfer matrix model, where at each time step a reduced set of quantum states is used. The states are solely characterized by the discretized spatial volume. Using Monte Carlo simulations we determine the effective transfer matrix elements and extract the effective action for the scale factor. In this framework no degrees of freedom are frozen, however, the obtained action agrees with the minisuperspace model.