A cosmological solution of Regge calculus

Abstract

We revisit the Regge calculus model of the Kasner cosmology first considered by Lewis (1982 Phys. Rev. D 25 306 12). One of the most highly symmetric applications of lattice gravity in the literature, Lewis' discrete model closely matched the degrees of freedom of the Kasner cosmology. As such, it was surprising that Lewis was unable to obtain the full set of Kasner–Einstein equations in the continuum limit. Indeed, an averaging procedure was required to ensure that the lattice equations were even consistent with the exact solution in this limit. We correct Lewis' calculations and show that the resulting Regge model converges quickly to the full set of Kasner–Einstein equations in the limit of very fine discretization. Numerical solutions to the discrete and continuous-time lattice equations are also considered.