Timelike boundary and corner terms in the causal set action

Abstract

The causal set action of dimension $d$ is investigated for causal sets that are Poisson sprinklings into submanifolds of $d$-dimensional Minkowski space. Evidence, both analytic and numerical, is provided for the conjecture that the mean of the causal set action over sprinklings into a manifold with a timelike boundary, diverges like $l^{-1}$ in the continuum limit as the discreteness length $l$ tends to zero. A novel conjecture for the contribution to the causal set action from co-dimension 2 corners, also known as joints, is proposed and justified.

48 pages, 35 figures