Classical sequential growth dynamics for causal sets - art. no. 024002

Starting from certain causality conditions and a discrete form of general c ovariance, we derive a very general family of classically stochastic, seque ntial growth dynamics for causal sets. The resulting theories provide a rel atively accessible "halfway house" to full quantum gravity that possibly co ntains the latter's classical limit (general relativity). Because they can be expressed in terms of state models for an assembly of Ising spins residi ng on the relations of the causal set, these theories also illustrate how n ongravitational matter can arise dynamically from the causal set without ha ving to be built in at the fundamental level. Additionally, our results bri ng into focus some interpretive issues of importance for a causal set dynam ics and for quantum gravity more generally.