Gravity coupled with matter and the foundation of non-commutative geometry (Q679349): Difference between revisions

Recalling Riemann's concept of geometric space based on the notion of a manifold \(M\) and the metric \(ds^2\) on \(M\), the author tries to build the notion of geometry in a somewhat dual manner, based on the pair of the algebra \({\mathcal A}\) of functions on \(M\) and the length element \(ds\). The author first considers \(ds\) as a symbol, which together with \({\mathcal A}\) generates an algebra \(({\mathcal A}, ds)\). Keeping in mind the Hilbert space \(L^2(M,S)\) of square integrable sections of the spinor bundle \(S\) on \(M\), let \({\mathcal H}\) be a Hilbert space, \({\mathcal A}\) be an involutive commutative algebra, unitarily represented in \({\mathcal H}\) and \(D= ds^{-1}\) be a self-adjoint operator in \({\mathcal H}\). After recalling a dictionary of some equivalent terminologies in the classical and quantum mechanics such as infinitesimal variables and infinitesimals of order \(\alpha\), the author calls the triplet \(({\mathcal A}, {\mathcal H}, D)\), with an integer \(n>0\), a commutative geometry if the following axioms (1) to (7) are satisfied: (1) \(ds= D^{-1}\) is infinitesimal of order \(1/n\). (2) \([[D,f],g] =0\) holds for \(f\), \(g\in {\mathcal A}\). (3) For any \(a\in {\mathcal A}\), \(a\) and \([D,a]\) belong to the domain of \(\delta^m\) for any \(m\), where \(\delta (T)= [|D|,T]\). The axiom (4), called orientability, requires (if \(n\) is even) a Hochschild cycle \(c\in Z_n ({\mathcal A}, {\mathcal A})\) such that \(\pi(c) =\gamma\) satisfies \(\gamma= \gamma^*\), \(\gamma^2 =1\), \(\gamma D= -D\gamma\), \(\pi\) denoting the unitary representation of \({\mathcal A}\) in \({\mathcal H}\). In the odd case \(\pi(c) =1\) holds for some \(c\in Z_n ({\mathcal A}, {\mathcal A})\). The other axioms (5) to (7) will not be given here explicitly. They are called (5) Finiteness and absolute continuity, (6) Poincaré duality and (7) Reality. Now, the author states (without proof) the results, which assert that a commutative geometry \(({\mathcal A}, {\mathcal H},D)\) reproduces Riemann's concept of geometric space, e.g., there exists a Riemannian metric \(g\) on a smooth manifold \(M\) such that \({\mathcal A}= C^\infty (M)\) and that the geodesic distance between two points \(x,y\in M\) is given by \(d(x,y)= \sup \{|a(x)- a(y) |\); \(a\in {\mathcal A}\), \(|[D,a] |\leq 1\}\). After making a few remarks about this theorem, the author next proceeds to the non-commutative geometry \(({\mathcal A}, {\mathcal H}, D)\) by modifying the axioms (2), (4), (6), (7) to \((2')\), \((4')\), \((6')\), \((7')\) respectively, where he no longer assumes that the algebra \({\mathcal A}\) is commutative. The author gives three examples of non-commutative geometry in which \({\mathcal A}= \mathbb{C}^N\), \({\mathcal A}= C^\infty (M,M_k (\mathbb{C}))\), where \(M\) is a smooth compact spin manifold, as well as \({\mathcal A}= {\mathcal A}_\theta\) the irrational rotation smooth algebra, given by \({\mathcal A}_\theta =\{\sum a_{nm} U^nV^m\); \(a=(a_{nm}) \in S(\mathbb{Z}^2)\}\), where \(S(\mathbb{Z}^2)\) is the Schwartz space of \(\mathbb{Z}^2\). Finally the author considers the noncommutative geometry of the standard model, developed in the last chapter of the author's book [`Noncommutative geometry', Academic Press (1994; Zbl 0818.46076)], postponing the analysis of its relation to gravity to a forthcoming paper.