Matter-Driven Change of Spacetime Topology

Using Monte Carlo computer simulations, we study the impact of matter fields on the geometry of a typical quantum universe in the causal dynamical triangulations (cdt) model of lattice quantum gravity. The quantum universe has the size of a few Planck lengths and the spatial topology of a three-torus. The matter fields are multicomponent scalar fields taking values in a torus with circumference δ in each spatial direction, which acts as a new parameter in the cdt model. Changing δ, we observe a phase transition caused by the scalar field. This discovery may have important consequences for quantum universes with nontrivial topology, since the phase transition can change the topology to a simply connected one.