Disctances in finite spaces from noncommutative geometry (Q5927608): Difference between revisions

In noncommutative geometry, a ``space'' is described by a triple \((A,{\mathcal H},D)\), where \(A\) is a \(C^*\)-algebra, which is faithfully represented over a Hilbert space \({\mathcal H}\), and a (possibly unbounded) operator \(D\) acting on \({\mathcal H}\). A ``distance'' is defined on \({\mathcal S}(A)\), the pure state space of \(A\), by \[ d(\phi,\psi)= \sup_{a\in A} \{|\phi(a)- \psi(a)|:\|[D, a]\|\leq 1\},\quad \phi,\psi\in{\mathcal S}(A). \] This generalizes the notion of Riemannian distance: For instance, when \(D\) is a Dirac operator on a (compact) spin manifold \(M\) and \(A= C(M)\), while the pure states of \(A\) are interpreted as points on \(M\) via Gelfand construction, the distance as defined above coincides with the Riemannian geodesic distance. In this paper, the authors carry out explicit computations of the distances in several finite-dimensional examples. These include the cases of \(A= M_2(\mathbb{C})\), \(A= M_n(\mathbb{C})\oplus \mathbb{C}\), and \(A= \bigoplus^n_{i=1} \mathbb{C}\). The last type are the \(n\)-point commutative spaces. After obtaining some general results on these spaces, the authors focus their attention to the cases of non-regular \(n\)-point commutative spaces, for \(n=3\) and \(n=4\). Through these discussions and detailed calculations, they point out that the problem of finding an algebraic formula for the distance is generically not solvable for \(n\geq 4\). In the 3-point space case, due to the existence of the general distance formula, it is possible to characterize those metrics which come from Dirac operators. Meanwhile, the unsolvability of the distance formula in the 4-point space case means that this is no longer true. On the other hand, the authors can prove the following result: For any given metric of an \(n\)-point space, there exists a suitable Dirac operator associated with \(A= \mathbb{C}^n\) and a spectral triple \((A,{\mathcal H},D)\), such that the distances on \({\mathcal S}(A)\) are exactly the ones given by the metric. Moreover, the triple \((A,{\mathcal H},D)\) satisfies all the axioms of noncommutative geometry. This result does not answer the question of characterizing metrics coming from Dirac operators, but at least it shows that the map which associates a metric to a Dirac operator is surjective.