Dagger categories of tame relations (Q382419)

The paper introduces tame relations in an involutive tensor category through comparion morphisms with pre- and post morphisms, the latter being intended to permit modelling a finitness condition. These relations were proposed by \textit{R. Blute} and \textit{P. Panangaden} [Lect. Notes Phys. 813, 421--436 (2011; Zbl 1253.81006)] in the construction of a dagger category of formal distributions. Considering this construction in the more general context of involutive tensor categories, Jacobs shows that this is a surprisingly general concept; instances include Galois connections in orthomodular lattices, bifinite relations on sets, discrete probability distributions, multisets and Hilbert spaces. Morphisms between Hilbert spaces may be interpreted as tame relations (Lemma 4.6). The paper closes with a detailed discussion of bifinite relations with comparison functions in an involutive semiring, given the vantage point of modelling discrete quantum computations on an infinite state space. It indicates cautiously that this might be suitable as a model for discrete quatum computations, pending further logic based investigations.