FERMION SYSTEMS IN DISCRETE SPACE–TIME EXEMPLIFYING THE SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF A CAUSAL STRUCTURE

Abstract

As toy models for space-time at the Planck scale, we consider examples of fermion systems in discrete space-time which are composed of one or two particles defined on two up to nine space-time points. We study the self-organization of the particles as described by a variational principle both analytically and numerically. We find an effect of spontaneous symmetry breaking which leads to the emergence of a discrete causal structure.