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The IKKT matrix model has been conjectured to provide a promising nonperturbative formulation of superstring theory. In this model, spacetime emerges dynamically from the microscopic matrix degrees of freedom in the large-N limit, and Monte Carlo simulations of the Lorentzian version provide evidence of an emergent (3+1)-dimensional expanding space-time. In this talk, we discuss the Euclidean version of the IKKT matrix model and provide evidence of dynamical compactification of the extra dimensions via the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of the 10D rotational symmetry. We perform numerical simulations of a system with a severe complex action problem by using the complex Langevin method (CLM). The CLM suffers from the singular-drift problem and we deform the model in order to avoid it. We study the SSB pattern as we vary the deformation parameter and we conclude that the original model has an SO(3) symmetric vacuum, in agreement with previous calculations using the Gaussian expansion method (GEM). We employ the GEM to the deformed model and we obtain results consistent with the ones obtained by CLM., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the CORFU2019 Workshop on Quantum Geometry, Field Theory and Gravity, September 18-25 2019

The IKKT matrix model is a promising candidate for a nonperturbative formulation of superstring theory, in which spacetime is conjectured to emerge dynamically from the microscopic matrix degrees of freedom in the large-$N$ limit. Indeed in the Lorentzian version, Monte Carlo studies suggested the emergence of (3+1)-dimensional expanding space-time. Here we study the Euclidean version instead, and investigate an alternative scenario for dynamical compactification of extra dimensions via the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of 10D rotational symmetry. We perform numerical simulations based on the complex Langevin method (CLM) in order to avoid a severe sign problem. Furthermore, in order to avoid the singular-drift problem in the CLM, we deform the model and determine the SSB pattern as we vary the deformation parameter. From these results, we conclude that the original model has an SO(3) symmetric vacuum, which is consistent with previous results obtained by the Gaussian expansion method (GEM). We also apply the GEM to the deformed matrix model and find consistency with the results obtained by the CLM., 34 pages, 5 figures; (v2) reference added

In recent years the complex Langevin method (CLM) has proven a powerful method in studying statistical systems which suffer from the sign problem. Here we show that it can also be applied to an important problem concerning why we live in four-dimensional spacetime. Our target system is the type IIB matrix model, which is conjectured to be a nonperturbative definition of type IIB superstring theory in ten dimensions. The fermion determinant of the model becomes complex upon Euclideanization, which causes a severe sign problem in its Monte Carlo studies. It is speculated that the phase of the fermion determinant actually induces the spontaneous breaking of the SO(10) rotational symmetry, which has direct consequences on the aforementioned question. In this paper, we apply the CLM to the 6D version of the type IIB matrix model and show clear evidence that the SO(6) symmetry is broken down to SO(3). Our results are consistent with those obtained previously by the Gaussian expansion method., 19 pages, 12 figures, (v2) minor revisions; the final version published in JHEP, (v3); reference added

We study the question whether matrix models obtained in the zero volume limit of 4d Yang-Mills theories can describe large N QCD strings. The matrix model we use is a variant of the Eguchi-Kawai model in terms of Hermitian matrices, but without any twists or quenching. This model was originally proposed as a toy model of the IIB matrix model. In contrast to common expectations, we do observe the area law for Wilson loops in a significant range of scale of the loop area. Numerical simulations show that this range is stable as N increases up to 768, which strongly suggests that it persists in the large N limit. Hence the equivalence to QCD strings may hold for length scales inside a finite regime., 12 pages, 4 figures

We simulate a supersymmetric matrix model obtained from dimensional reduction of 4d SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory (a 4d counter part of the IKKT model or IIB matrix model). The eigenvalue distribution determines the space structure. The measurement of Wilson loop correlators reveals a universal large N scaling. Eguchi-Kawai equivalence may hold in a finite range of scale, which is also true for the bosonic case. We finally report on simulations of a low energy approximation of the 10d IKKT model, where we omit the phase of the Pfaffian and look for evidence for a spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking., Comment: 4 pages, talk presented at LATTICE 2000 (Bangalore)

We present the results of a high-statistics Monte Carlo simulation of a phantom crystalline (fixed-connectivity) membrane with free boundary. We verify the existence of a flat phase by examining lattices of size up to $128^2$. The Hamiltonian of the model is the sum of a simple spring pair potential, with no hard-core repulsion, and bending energy. The only free parameter is the the bending rigidity $\kappa$. In-plane elastic constants are not explicitly introduced. We obtain the remarkable result that this simple model dynamically generates the elastic constants required to stabilise the flat phase. We present measurements of the size (Flory) exponent $\nu$ and the roughness exponent $\zeta$. We also determine the critical exponents $\eta$ and $\eta_u$ describing the scale dependence of the bending rigidity ($\kappa(q) \sim q^{-\eta}$) and the induced elastic constants ($\lambda(q) \sim \mu(q) \sim q^{\eta_u}$). At bending rigidity $\kappa = 1.1$, we find $\nu = 0.95(5)$ (Hausdorff dimension $d_H = 2/\nu = 2.1(1)$), $\zeta = 0.64(2)$ and $\eta_u = 0.50(1)$. These results are consistent with the scaling relation $\zeta = (2+\eta_u)/4$. The additional scaling relation $\eta = 2(1-\zeta)$ implies $\eta = 0.72(4)$. A direct measurement of $\eta$ from the power-law decay of the normal-normal correlation function yields $\eta \approx 0.6$ on the $128^2$ lattice., Comment: Latex, 31 Pages with 14 figures. Improved introduction, appendix A and discussion of numerical methods. Some references added. Revised version to appear in J. Phys. I

We report the status of a high-statistics Monte Carlo simulation of non-self-avoiding crystalline surfaces with extrinsic curvature on lattices of size up to $128^2$ nodes. We impose free boundary conditions. The free energy is a gaussian spring tethering potential together with a normal-normal bending energy. Particular emphasis is given to the behavior of the model in the cold phase where we measure the decay of the normal-normal correlation function., 9 pages latex (epsf), 4 EPS figures, uuencoded and compressed. Contribution to Lattice '95

We propose a method for Monte Carlo simulations of systems with a complex action. The method has the advantages of being in principle applicable to any such system and provides a solution to the overlap problem. In some cases, like in the IKKT matrix model, a finite size scaling extrapolation can provide results for systems whose size would make it prohibitive to simulate directly., Comment: Lattice2003(nonzero), 3 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings for Lattice 2003, July 2003, Tsukuba, Japan

It has long been speculated that the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of SO(D) occurs in matrix models obtained by dimensionally reducing super Yang-Mills theory in D=6,10 dimensions. In particular, the D=10 case corresponds to the IIB matrix model, which was proposed as a nonperturbative formulation of superstring theory, and the SSB may correspond to the dynamical generation of four-dimensional space-time. Recently, it has been shown by using the Gaussian expansion method that the SSB indeed occurs for D=6 and D=10, and interesting nature of the SSB common to both cases has been suggested. Here we study the same issue from first principles by a Monte Carlo method in the D=6 case. In spite of a severe complex-action problem, the factorization method enables us to obtain various quantities associated with the SSB, which turn out to be consistent with the previous results obtained by the Gaussian expansion method. This also demonstrates the usefulness of the factorization method as a general approach to systems with the complex-action problem or the sign problem., Comment: 28 pages, 19 figures, v2 some minor corrections

The IKKT or IIB matrix model has been postulated to be a non perturbative definition of superstring theory. It has the attractive feature that spacetime is dynamically generated, which makes possible the scenario of dynamical compactification of extra dimensions, which in the Euclidean model manifests by spontaneously breaking the SO(10) rotational invariance (SSB). In this work we study using Monte Carlo simulations the 6 dimensional version of the Euclidean IIB matrix model. Simulations are found to be plagued by a strong complex action problem and the factorization method is used for effective sampling and computing expectation values of the extent of spacetime in various dimensions. Our results are consistent with calculations using the Gaussian Expansion method which predict SSB to SO(3) symmetric vacua, a finite universal extent of the compactified dimensions and finite spacetime volume., 7 pages, 6 figures, Lattice2012, Theoretical Developments

The matrix model formulation of superstring theory offers the possibility to understand the appearance of 4d space-time from 10d as a consequence of spontaneous breaking of the SO(10) symmetry. Monte Carlo studies of this issue is technically difficult due to the so-called sign problem. We present a practical solution to this problem generalizing the factorization method proposed originally by two of the authors (K.N.A. and J.N.). Explicit Monte Carlo calculations and large-N extrapolations are performed in a simpler matrix model with similar properties, and reproduce quantitative results obtained previously by the Gaussian expansion method. Our results also confirm that the spontaneous symmetry breaking indeed occurs due to the phase of the fermion determinant, which vanishes for collapsed configurations. We clarify various generic features of this approach, which would be useful in applying it to other statistical systems with the sign problem., 44 pages, 64 figures, v2: some minor typos corrected

The sign problem is a notorious problem, which occurs in Monte Carlo simulations of a system with the partition function whose integrand is not real positive. The basic idea of the factorization method applied on such a system is to control some observables in order to determine and sample efficiently the region of configuration space which gives important contribution to the partition function. We argue that it is crucial to choose appropriately the set of the observables to be controlled in order for the method to work successfully in a general system. This is demonstrated by an explicit example, in which it turns out to be necessary to control more than one observables. Extrapolation to large system size is possible due to the nice scaling properties of the factorized functions, and known results obtained by an analytic method are shown to be consistently reproduced., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, (v2) references added (v3) Sections IV, V and VI improved, final version accepted by PRD

The sign problem is a notorious problem, which occurs in Monte Carlo simulations of a system with a partition function whose integrand is not positive. One way to simulate such a system is to use the factorization method where one enforces sampling in the part of the configuration space which gives important contribution to the partition function. This is accomplished by using constraints on some observables chosen appropriately and minimizing the free energy associated with their joint distribution functions. These observables are maximally correlated with the complex phase. Observables not in this set essentially decouple from the phase and can be calculated without the sign problem in the corresponding "microcanonical" ensemble. These ideas are applied on a simple matrix model with very strong sign problem and the results are found to be consistent with analytic calculations using the Gaussian Expansion Method., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Contribution to the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - Lattice 2011

We present the results of an extension of our previous work on large-scale simulations of dynamically triangulated toroidal random surfaces embedded in $R^3$ with extrinsic curvature. We find that the extrinsic-curvature specific heat peak ceases to grow on lattices with more than 576 nodes and that the location of the peak $\lam_c$ also stabilizes. The evidence for a true crumpling transition is still weak. If we assume it exists we can say that the finite-size scaling exponent $\frac {\alpha} {\nu d}$ is very close to zero or negative. On the other hand our new data does rule out the observed peak as being a finite-size artifact of the persistence length becoming comparable to the extent of the lattice., Comment: LaTeX, 11 pages, two figures, (the original version of this paper had an hep-lat preprint number instead of an hep-th number- this is the only change)

The IIB matrix model proposes a mechanism for dynamically generating four dimensional space--time in string theory by spontaneous breaking of the ten dimensional rotational symmetry $\textrm{SO}(10)$. Calculations using the Gaussian expansion method (GEM) lend support to this conjecture. We study a simple $\textrm{SO}(4)$ invariant matrix model using Monte Carlo simulations and we confirm that its rotational symmetry breaks down, showing that lower dimensional configurations dominate the path integral. The model has a strong complex action problem and the calculations were made possible by the use of the factorization method on the density of states $\rho_n(x)$ of properly normalized eigenvalues $\tilde\lambda_n$ of the space--time moment of inertia tensor. We study scaling properties of the factorized terms of $\rho_n(x)$ and we find them in agreement with simple scaling arguments. These can be used in the finite size scaling extrapolation and in the study of the region of configuration space obscured by the large fluctuations of the phase. The computed values of $\tilde\lambda_n$ are in reasonable agreement with GEM calculations and a numerical method for comparing the free energy of the corresponding ansatze is proposed and tested., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Talk presented at the XXVIII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Lattice2010, Villasimius, Italy, June 2010

We investigate the critical behaviour of both matter and geometry of the three-state Potts model coupled to two-dimensional Lorentzian quantum gravity in the framework of causal dynamical triangulations. Contrary to what general arguments of the effects of disorder suggest, we find strong numerical evidence that the critical exponents of the matter are not changed under the influence of quantum fluctuations in the geometry, compared to their values on fixed, regular lattices. This lends further support to previous findings that quantum gravity models based on causal dynamical triangulations are in many ways better behaved than their Euclidean counterparts., 19 pages, 9 figures

We present the first Monte Carlo results for supersymmetric matrix quantum mechanics with sixteen supercharges at finite temperature. The recently proposed non-lattice simulation enables us to include the effects of fermionic matrices in a transparent and reliable manner. The internal energy nicely interpolates the weak coupling behavior obtained by the high temperature expansion, and the strong coupling behavior predicted from the dual black hole geometry. The Polyakov line takes large values even at low temperature suggesting the absence of a phase transition in sharp contrast to the bosonic case. These results provide highly non-trivial evidences for the gauge/gravity duality., Comment: REVTeX4, 4 pages, 3 figures

We study the zeros in the complex plane of the partition function for the Ising model coupled to $2d$ quantum gravity for complex magnetic field and for complex temperature. We compute the zeros by using the exact solution coming from a two matrix model and by Monte Carlo simulations of Ising spins on dynamical triangulations. We present evidence that the zeros form simple one-dimensional patterns in the complex plane, and that the critical behaviour of the system is governed by the scaling of the distribution of singularities near the critical point., Comment: 3 pages, 8 figures, latex2e, uses espcrc2.sty. Contribution to Lattice '97, Edinburgh, July 1997, to appear on Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.)

We perform Monte Carlo simulations of 2-d dynamically triangulated surfaces coupled to Ising and three--states Potts model matter. By measuring spin-spin correlation functions as a function of the geodesic distance we provide substantial evidence for a diverging correlation length at $\beta_c$. The corresponding scaling exponents are directly related to the KPZ exponents of the matter fields as conjectured in [4] (NPB454(1995)313)., Comment: Talk presented at LATTICE96(gravity)

Monte Carlo simulations of finite density systems are often plagued by the complex action problem. We point out that there exists certain non-commutativity in the zero chemical potential limit and the thermodynamic limit when one tries to study such systems by reweighting techniques. This is demonstrated by explicit calculations in a Random Matrix Theory, which is thought to be a simple qualitative model for finite density QCD. The factorization method allows us to understand how the non-commutativity, which appears at the intermediate steps, cancels in the end results for physical observables., 7 pages, 9 figures

We propose a method for Monte Carlo simulations of systems with a complex action. The method has the advantages of being in principle applicable to any such system and provides a solution to the overlap problem. We apply it in random matrix theory of finite density QCD where we compare with analytic results. In this model we find non--commutativity of the limits $\mu\to 0$ and $N\to\infty$ which could be of relevance in QCD at finite density., Comment: Talk by K.N.A. at Confinement 2003, Tokyo, July 2003, 5 pages, 4 figures, ws-procs9x6.cls

The IKKT or IIB matrix model has been proposed as a non-perturbative definition of type IIB superstring theories. It has the attractive feature that space--time appears dynamically. It is possible that lower dimensional universes dominate the theory, therefore providing a dynamical solution to the reduction of space--time dimensionality. We summarize recent works that show the central role of the phase of the fermion determinant in the possible realization of such a scenario., 3 pages, 2 figures, Lattice2001(surfaces)

Monte Carlo simulations of a system whose action has an imaginary part are considered to be extremely difficult. We propose a new approach to this `complex-action problem', which utilizes a factorization property of distribution functions. The basic idea is quite general, and it removes the so-called overlap problem completely. Here we apply the method to a nonperturbative study of superstring theory using its matrix formulation. In this particular example, the distribution function turns out to be positive definite, which allows us to reduce the problem even further. Our numerical results suggest an intuitive explanation for the dynamical generation of 4d space-time., 7 pages, 4 figures, PRD version somewhat extended from the original version

We test at the electroweak scale the recently proposed elaborate theoretical scenario for real-time dynamics of non-abelian gauge theories at high temperature. We see no sign of the predicted behavior. This indicates that perturbative concepts like color conductivity and Landau damping might be irrelevant at temperatures corresponding to the electroweak scale., 13 pages, LaTeX, figures part of the LaTeX file

In string or M theories, the spontaneous breaking of 10D or 11D Lorentz symmetry is required to describe our space-time. A direct approach to this issue is provided by the IIB matrix model. We study its 4D version, which corresponds to the zero volume limit of 4D super SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. Based on the moment of inertia as a criterion, spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) seems to occur, so that only one extended direction remains, as first observed by Bialas, Burda et al. However, using Wilson loops as probes of space-time we do not observe any sign of SSB in Monte Carlo simulations where N is as large as 48. This agrees with an earlier observation that the phase of the fermionic integral, which is absent in the 4D model, should play a crucial role if SSB of Lorentz symmetry really occurs in the 10D IIB matrix model., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, a few points are made more precise

The phase diagram of 2d Lorentzian quantum gravity (LQG) coupled to conformal matter is studied. A phase transition is observed at $c=c_{\rm crit}$ ($1/2, Comment: LATTICE99(gravity), 3 pages, espcrc2.sty, simulations available at http://www.nbi.dk/~ambjorn/lqg2/

We study the diffusion equation in two-dimensional quantum gravity, and show that the spectral dimension is two despite the fact that the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension of the ensemble of two-dimensional geometries is very different from two. We determine the scaling properties of the quantum gravity averaged diffusion kernel., latex2e, 10 pages, 4 figures

We show that the ``time'' t_s defined via spin clusters in the Ising model coupled to 2d gravity leads to a fractal dimension d_h(s) = 6 of space-time at the critical point, as advocated by Ishibashi and Kawai. In the unmagnetized phase, however, this definition of Hausdorff dimension breaks down. Numerical measurements are consistent with these results. The same definition leads to d_h(s)=16 at the critical point when applied to flat space. The fractal dimension d_h(s) is in disagreement with both analytical prediction and numerical determination of the fractal dimension d_h(g), which is based on the use of the geodesic distance t_g as ``proper time''. There seems to be no simple relation of the kind t_s = t_g^{d_h(g)/d_h(s)}, as expected by dimensional reasons., 14 pages, LaTeX, 2 ps-figures

We review recent developments in the understanding of the fractal properties of quantum spacetime of 2d gravity coupled to c>0 conformal matter. In particular we discuss bounds put by numerical simulations using dynamical triangulations on the value of the Hausdorff dimension d_H obtained from scaling properties of two point functions defined in terms of geodesic distance. Further insight to the fractal structure of spacetime is obtained from the study of the loop length distribution function which reveals that the 0= 5., Comment: LaTeX2e, 3 pages, 3 figures

We study the fractal structure of space-time of two-dimensional quantum gravity coupled to c=-2 conformal matter by means of computer simulations. We find that the intrinsic Hausdorff dimension d_H = 3.58 +/- 0.04. This result supports the conjecture d_H = -2 \alpha_1/\alpha_{-1}, where \alpha_n is the gravitational dressing exponent of a spinless primary field of conformal weight (n+1,n+1), and it disfavours the alternative prediction d_H = 2/|\gamma|. On the other hand ~ r^{2n} for n>1 with good accuracy, i.e. the boundary length l has an anomalous dimension relative to the area of the surface., Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures, 32 eps files, using psfig.sty and epsf.sty

We couple c=-2 matter to 2-dimensional gravity within the framework of dynamical triangulations. We use a very fast algorithm, special to the c=-2 case, in order to test scaling of correlation functions defined in terms of geodesic distance and we determine the fractal dimension d_H with high accuracy. We find d_H=3.58(4), consistent with a prediction coming from the study of diffusion in the context of Liouville theory, and that the quantum space-time possesses the same fractal properties at all distance scales similarly to the case of pure gravity., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Lattice 97 proceedings Nucl.Phys.B(Proc.Suppl.)

We show that there exists a divergent correlation length in 2d quantum gravity for the matter fields close to the critical point provided one uses the invariant geodesic distance as the measure of distance. The corresponding reparameterization invariant two-point functions satisfy all scaling relations known from the ordinary theory of critical phenomena and the KPZ exponents are determined by the power-like fall off of these two-point functions. The only difference compared to flat space is the appearance of a dynamically generated fractal dimension d_h in the scaling relations. We analyze numerically the fractal properties of space-time for Ising and three-states Potts model coupled to 2d dimensional quantum gravity using finite size scaling as well as small distance scaling of invariant correlation functions. Our data are consistent with d_h=4, but we cannot rule out completely the conjecture d_H = -2\alpha_1/\alpha_{-1}, where \alpha_{-n} is the gravitational dressing exponent of a spin-less primary field of conformal weight (n+1,n+1). We compute the moments and the loop-length distribution function and show that the fractal properties associated with these observables are identical, with good accuracy, to the pure gravity case., Comment: LaTeX2e, 38 pages, 13 figures, 32 eps files, added one reference

We study the zeros in the complex plane of the partition function for the Ising model coupled to 2d quantum gravity for complex magnetic field and real temperature, and for complex temperature and real magnetic field, respectively. We compute the zeros by using the exact solution coming from a two matrix model and by Monte Carlo simulations of Ising spins on dynamical triangulations. We present evidence that the zeros form simple one-dimensional curves in the complex plane, and that the critical behaviour of the system is governed by the scaling of the distribution of the singularities near the critical point. Despite the small size of the systems studied, we can obtain a reasonable estimate of the (known) critical exponents., Comment: 22 pages, LaTeX2e, 10 figures, added discussion on antiferromagnetic transition and references

We study a c=-2 conformal field theory coupled to two-dimensional quantum gravity by means of dynamical triangulations. We define the geodesic distance r on the triangulated surface with N triangles, and show that dim[r^{d_H}]= dim[N], where the fractal dimension d_H = 3.58 +/- 0.04. This result lends support to the conjecture d_H = -2\alpha_1/\alpha_{-1}, where \alpha_{-n} is the gravitational dressing exponent of a spin-less primary field of conformal weight (n+1,n+1), and it disfavors the alternative prediction d_H = -2/\gamma_{str}. On the other hand, we find dim[l] = dim[r^2] with good accuracy, where l is the length of one of the boundaries of a circle with (geodesic) radius r, i.e. the length l has an anomalous dimension relative to the area of the surface. It is further shown that the spectral dimension d_s = 1.980 +/- 0.014 for the ensemble of (triangulated) manifolds used. The results are derived using finite size scaling and a very efficient recursive sampling technique known previously to work well for c=-2., Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, 4 figures using psfig.sty and epsf.sty

We study a 4d supersymmetric matrix model with a cubic term, which incorporates fuzzy spheres as classical solutions, using Monte Carlo simulations and perturbative calculations. The fuzzy sphere in the supersymmetric model turns out to be always stable if the large-N limit is taken in such a way that various correlation functions scale. This is in striking contrast to analogous bosonic models, where the fuzzy sphere decays into the pure Yang-Mills vacuum due to quantum effects when the coefficient of the cubic term becomes smaller than a critical value. We also find that the power-law tail of the eigenvalue distribution, which exists in the supersymmetric model without the cubic term, disappears in the presence of the fuzzy sphere in the large-N limit. Coincident fuzzy spheres turn out to be unstable, which implies that the dynamically generated gauge group is U(1)., Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, (v2) some typos corrected

We study dynamical effects of introducing noncommutativity on string worldsheets by using a matrix model obtained from the zero-volume limit of four-dimensional SU($N$) Yang-Mills theory. Although the dimensionless noncommutativity parameter is of order 1/N, its effect is found to be non-negligible even in the large $N$ limit due to the existence of higher Fourier modes. We find that the Poisson bracket grows much faster than the Moyal bracket as we increase $N$, which means in particular that the two quantities do not coincide in the large $N$ limit. The well-known instability of bosonic worldsheets due to long spikes is shown to be cured by the noncommutativity. The extrinsic geometry of the worldsheet is described by a crumpled surface with a large Hausdorff dimension., 19 pages, 9 figures, JHEP.cls, added computation of Hausdorff dimension, references and minor corrections

We perform Monte Carlo simulations of a supersymmetric matrix model, which is obtained by dimensional reduction of 4D SU(N) super Yang-Mills theory. The model can be considered as a four-dimensional counterpart of the IIB matrix model. We extract the space-time structure represented by the eigenvalues of bosonic matrices. In particular we compare the large N behavior of the space-time extent with the result obtained from a low energy effective theory. We measure various Wilson loop correlators which represent string amplitudes and we observe a nontrivial universal scaling in N. We also observe that the Eguchi-Kawai equivalence to ordinary gauge theory does hold at least within a finite range of scale. Comparison with the results for the bosonic case clarifies the role of supersymmetry in the large N dynamics. It does affect the multi-point correlators qualitatively, but the Eguchi-Kawai equivalence is observed even in the bosonic case., Comment: 35 pages, 17 figures

The low-energy effective theory of the IIB matrix model developed by H. Aoki et al. is written down explicitly in terms of bosonic variables only. The effective theory is then studied by Monte Carlo simulations in order to investigate the possibility of a spontaneous breakdown of Lorentz invariance. The imaginary part of the effective action, which causes the so-called sign problem in the simulation, is dropped by hand. The extent of the eigenvalue distribution of the bosonic matrices shows a power-law large N behavior, consistent with a simple branched-polymer prediction. We observe, however, that the eigenvalue distribution becomes more and more isotropic in the ten-dimensional space-time as we increase N. This suggests that if the spontaneous breakdown of Lorentz invariance really occurs in the IIB matrix model, a crucial role must be played by the imaginary part of the effective action., 26 pages, LaTeX, 7 eps figures

We study the coupling of Abelian gauge theories to four-dimensional simplicial quantum gravity. The gauge fields live on dual links. This is the correct formulation if we want to compare the effect of gauge fields on geometry with similar effects studied so far for scalar fields. It shows that gauge fields couple equally weakly to geometry as scalar fields, and it offers an understanding of the relation between measure factors and Abelian gauge fields observed so-far., Comment: 20 pages

The IIB matrix model has been proposed as a non-perturbative definition of superstring theory. In this work, we study the Euclidean version of this model in which extra dimensions can be dynamically compactified if a scenario of spontaneously breaking the SO(10) rotational symmetry is realized. Monte Carlo calculations of the Euclidean IIB matrix model suffer from a very strong complex action problem due to the large fluctuations of the complex phase of the Pfaffian which appears after integrating out the fermions. We employ the factorization method in order to achieve effective sampling. We report on preliminary results that can be compared with previous studies of the rotational symmetry breakdown using the Gaussian expansion method., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, presented at the 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2015), 14-18 July, Kobe, Japan, (v3) minor corrections

Monte Carlo simulations of systems with a complex action are known to be extremely difficult. A new approach to this problem based on a factorization property of distribution functions of observables has been proposed recently. The method can be applied to any system with a complex action, and it eliminates the so-called overlap problem completely. We test the new approach in a Random Matrix Theory for finite density QCD, where we are able to reproduce the exact results for the quark number density. The achieved system size is large enough to extract the thermodynamic limit. Our results provide a clear understanding of how the expected first order phase transition is induced by the imaginary part of the action., Comment: 27 pages, 25 figures

The statistical mechanics of flexible two-dimensional surfaces (membranes) appears in a wide variety of physical settings. In this talk we discuss the simplest case of fixed-connectivity surfaces. We first review the current theoretical understanding of the remarkable flat phase of such membranes. We then summarize the results of a recent large scale Monte Carlo simulation of the simplest conceivable discrete realization of this system \cite{BCFTA}. We verify the existence of long-range order, determine the associated critical exponents of the flat phase and compare the results to the predictions of various theoretical models., 7 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables. LaTeX w/epscrc2.sty, combined contribution of M. Falcioni and M. Bowick to LATTICE96(gravity), to appear in Nucl. Phys. B (proc. suppl.)