- Access by Xinjiang University
Closeness function on coarse grained Lorentzian geometries
Phys. Rev. D 113, 024034 – Published 16 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/txbf-hvz3
Abstract
We construct a family of closeness functions on the space of finite volume Lorentzian geometries using the abundance of discrete intervals in the underlying random causal sets. Although strictly weaker than a Lorentzian Gromov-Hausdorff distance function, it has the advantage of being numerically calculable for large causal sets. It thus provides a concrete and quantitative measure of continuumlike behavior in causal set theory and can be used to define a weak convergence condition for Lorentzian geometries.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (41)
- L. Bombelli, J. Lee, D. Meyer, and R. D. Sorkin, Space-time as a causal set, Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 521 (1987).
- J. A. Wheeler, Superspace and the nature of quantum geometrodynamics, in Quantum Cosmology, edited by L. Z. Fang and R. Ruffini, Advanced Series in Astrophysics and Cosmology Vol. 3 (World Scientific, Singapore, 1987), https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987quco.book...27W.
- A. E. Fischer, The theory of superspace, in Relativity Conference in the Midwest (Springer, Boston, MA, 1970), pp. 303–357.
- D. A. Edwards, The structure of superspace, in Studies in Topology, edited by N. M. Stavrakas and K. R. Allen (Academic Press, New York, 1975), pp. 121–133.
- M. G. M., J. Lafontaine, and P. Pansu, Structures Metriques Pour les Varieties Reimannienness (Cedric/Fernand Nathan, Paris, 1981).
- P. Petersen, Riemannian Geometry (Springer, New York, 2006).
- J. K. Beem, P. Ehrlich, and K. Easley, Global Lorentzian Geometry (Marcel Dekker, INC., New York, NY, 1996).
- L. Bombelli, Statistical Lorentzian geometry and the closeness of Lorentzian manifolds, J. Math. Phys. (N.Y.) 41, 6944 (2000).
- M. Braun, Spacetime reconstruction by order and number, arXiv:2507.01907.
- J. Noldus, A Lorentzian Lipschitz, Gromov-Hausdoff notion of distance, Classical Quantum Gravity 21, 839 (2004).
- J. Noldus, A new topology on the space of Lorentzian metrics on a fixed manifold, Classical Quantum Gravity 19, 6075 (2002).
- L. Bombelli and J. Noldus, The Moduli space of isometry classes of globally hyperbolic space-times, Classical Quantum Gravity 21, 4429 (2004).
- O. Müller, Lorentzian Gromov-Hausdorff theory and finiteness results, arXiv:1912.00988.
- E. Minguzzi and S. Suhr, Lorentzian metric spaces and their Gromov–Hausdorff convergence, Lett. Math. Phys. 114, 90 (2024).
- M. Kunzinger and R. Steinbauer, Null distance and convergence of Lorentzian length spaces, Ann. Henri Poincare 23, 4319 (2022).
- A. Mondino and C. Sämann, Lorentzian Gromov-Hausdorff convergence and pre-compactness, arXiv:2504.10380.
- M. Braun and C. Sämann, Gromov’s reconstruction theorem and measured Gromov-Hausdorff convergence in Lorentzian geometry, arXiv:2506.10852.
- M. Kunzinger and C. Sämann, Lorentzian length spaces, Ann. Glob. Anal. Geom. 54, 399 (2018).
- C. Sormani and C. Vega, Null distance on a spacetime, Classical Quantum Gravity 33, 085001 (2016).
- B. Allen and A. Burtscher, Properties of the null distance and spacetime convergence, Int. Math. Res. Not. 2022, 7729 (2022).
- A. Sakovich and C. Sormani, The null distance encodes causality, J. Math. Phys. (N.Y.) 64, 012502 (2023).
- A. Sakovich and C. Sormani, Introducing various notions of distances between space-times, arXiv:2410.16800.
- S. W. Hawking, A. R. King, and P. J. Mccarthy, A new topology for curved space-time which incorporates the causal, differential, and conformal structures, J. Math. Phys. (N.Y.) 17, 174 (1976).
- D. B. Malament, The class of continuous timelike curves determines the topology of spacetime, J. Math. Phys. (N.Y.) 18, 1399 (1977).
- E. H. Kronheimer and R. Penrose, On the structure of causal spaces, Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 63, 481 (1967).
- S. Surya, The causal set approach to quantum gravity, Living Rev. Relativity 22, 5 (2019).
- S. Surya, The Causal Set Approach to Quantum Gravity, Lect. Notes Phys. Vol. 1036 (Springer, Cham, 2025).
- L. Bombelli and D. A. Meyer, The origin of Lorentzian geometry, Phys. Lett. A 141, 226 (1989).
- O. Müller, On the hauptvermutung of causal set theory, arXiv:2503.01719.
- D. J. Kleitman and B. L. Rothschild, Asymptotic enumeration of partial orders on a finite set, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 205, 205 (1975).
- J. Myrheim, Statistical geometry, Tech. Rep. CERN-TH-2538, CERN, 1978.
- D. Meyer, The dimension of causal sets, Ph.D. thesis, M. I. T., 1988.
- Dionigi M. T. Benincasa and F. Dowker, The scalar curvature of a causal set, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 181301 (2010).
- F. Dowker and L. Glaser, Causal set d’Alembertians for various dimensions, Classical Quantum Gravity 30, 195016 (2013).
- L. Glaser, A closed form expression for the causal set d’Alembertian, Classical Quantum Gravity 31, 095007 (2014).
- L. Glaser and S. Surya, Towards a definition of locality in a manifoldlike causal set, Phys. Rev. D 88, 124026 (2013).
- Y. K. Yazdi, M. Letizia, and A. Kempf, Lorentzian spectral geometry with causal sets, Classical Quantum Gravity 38, 015011 (2021).
- S. Surya, Evidence for the continuum in 2D causal set quantum gravity, Classical Quantum Gravity 29, 132001 (2012).
- L. Glaser and S. Surya, The Hartle–Hawking wave function in 2D causal set quantum gravity, Classical Quantum Gravity 33, 065003 (2016).
- W. J. Cunningham and S. Surya, Dimensionally restricted causal set quantum gravity: Examples in two and three dimensions, Classical Quantum Gravity 37, 054002 (2020).
- R. Sorkin and N. Zwane (unpublished).