Dynamics and the Emergence of Geometry in an Information Mesh

TL;DR

This paper explores a simplified graph-based model for emergent spacetime, demonstrating that local interactions can reproduce quantum particle dynamics and proposing a way to include matter and dynamics as excitations above the ground state.

Contribution

It introduces a simplified multi-dimensional Ising model for emergent geometry, enabling the inclusion of matter and dynamics with only one coupling constant.

Findings

Simplified model produces acceptable ground state geometry.

Locality enforcement reproduces quantum particle dynamics.

Scheme proposed for matter and dynamics as excitations.

Abstract

The idea of a graph theoretical approach to modeling the emergence of a quantized geometry and consequently spacetime, has been proposed previously, but not well studied. In most approaches the focus has been upon how to generate a spacetime that possesses properties that would be desirable at the continuum limit, and the question of how to model matter and its dynamics has not been directly addressed. Recent advances in network science have yielded new approaches to the mechanism by which spacetime can emerge as the ground state of a simple Hamiltonian, based upon a multi-dimensional Ising model with one dimensionless coupling constant. Extensions to this model have been proposed that improve the ground state geometry, but they require additional coupling constants. In this paper we conduct an extensive exploration of the graph properties of the ground states of these models, and a simplification requiring only one coupling constant. We demonstrate that the simplification is effective at producing an acceptable ground state. Moreover we propose a scheme for the inclusion of matter and dynamics as excitations above the ground state of the simplified Hamiltonian. Intriguingly, enforcing locality has the consequence of reproducing the free non-relativistic dynamics of a quantum particle.