Some first results are presented regarding the behavior of invariant correlations in simplicial gravity, with an action containing both a bare cosmological term and a lattice higher derivative term. The determination of invariant correlations as a function of geodesic distance by numerical methods is a difficult task, since the geodesic distance between any two points is a function of the fluctuating background geometry, and correlation effects become rather small for large distances. Still, a strikingly different behavior is found for the volume and curvature correlation functions. While the first one is found to be negative definite at large geodesic distances, the second one is always positive for large distances. For both correlations the results are consistent in the smooth phase with an exponential decay, turning into a power law close to the critical point at ${\mathit{G}}_{\mathit{c}}$. Such behavior is not completely unexpected, if the model is to reproduce the classical Einstein theory at distances much larger than the ultraviolet cutoff scale.

• Received 4 November 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.50.3932