Towards a Discrete Spacetime

Abstract: A formalism is proposed to generate (the first step of) a discrete spacetime: spacetime with an inbuilt length scale. We follow the celebrated Landau theory of liquid - solid phase transition induced by Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking by a condensate whose Fourier transform has support at a {\it{non-zero}} momentum. The latter requirement is essential for breaking the translation symmetry. This, in turn, compels us to generalize Einstein action to higher derivative terms.