Categorial subsystem independence as morphism co-possibility (Q2413054)

Local quantum physics has recently found out a new paradigm which could be called \textit{categorical quantum field theory} [\textit{R. Brunetti} et al., Commun. Math. Phys. 237, No. 1--2, 31--68 (2003; Zbl 1047.81052); \textit{K. Nagata} and \textit{T. Nakamura}, Int. J. Theor. Phys. 49, No. 1, 162--170 (2010; Zbl 1184.81009); \textit{R. Brunetti} et al., Rev. Math. Phys. 26, No. 6, Article ID 1450010, 10 p. (2014; Zbl 1308.46063)], where quantum field theory is a covariant functor from the category of certain spacetimes as objects and isometric smooth causal embeddings as morphisms into the category of \(C^{\ast}\)-algebras as objects and injective \(C^{\ast}\)-algebra homomorphisms as morphisms. The principal objective of categorical quantum field theory is to establish a generally covariant quantum field theory on a general non-flat spacetime possibly without any non-trivial global symmetries. The covariant functor incarnates general covariance, which, if with global symmetry, says that observables transform covariantly with respect to representations of the global symmetry. Locality surely has to be implemented in categorical quantum field theory, and the principal objective in this paper is to pursue the ideas in [\textit{M. Rédei}, Stud. Hist. Philos. Sci., Part B, Stud. Hist. Philos. Mod. Phys. 48, Part B, 137--146 (2014; Zbl 1303.81009)] and [\textit{M. Rédei}, ``Categorical local quantum physics'', in: Reality and measurement in algebraic quantum theory. Berlin: Springer (2018)] in genuinely categorical terms. This paper defines subobject independence as morphism co-possibility in a general category and investigates its basic properties.