A second look at transition amplitudes in (2 + 1)-dimensional causal dynamical triangulations

Abstract

Studying transition amplitudes in (2 + 1)-dimensional causal dynamical triangulations, Cooperman and Miller discovered speculative evidence for Lorentzian quantum geometries emerging from its Euclidean path integral (Cooperman and Miller 2014 Class. Quantum Grav. 31 035012). On the basis of this evidence, Cooperman and Miller conjectured that Lorentzian de Sitter spacetime, not Euclidean de Sitter space, dominates the ground state of the quantum geometry of causal dynamical triangulations on large scales, a scenario akin to that of the Hartle-Hawking no-boundary proposal in which Lorentzian spacetimes dominate a Euclidean path integral (Hartle and Hawking 1983 Phys. Rev. D 28 2960). We argue against this conjecture: we propose a more straightforward explanation of their findings, and we proffer evidence for the Euclidean nature of these seemingly Lorentzian quantum geometries. This explanation reveals another manner in which the Euclidean path integral of causal dynamical triangulations behaves correctly in its semiclassical limit—the implementation and interaction of multiple constraints.