Almost commutative Riemannian geometry: Wave operators (Q411351)

In the first part of the paper, the author introduces a class of noncommutative space-times that are versions of \(M \times \mathbb R\), where `space' is an undeformed classical Riemannian manifold \((M,\overline{g})\) equipped with a conformal Killing vector field \(\tau\). The main result is the construction of a natural noncommutative space-time wave operator on \(C(M)\rtimes _{\tau} \mathbb R\) as a deformation of the classical space-time Laplace-Beltrami operator for \(\overline{g}_{M \times \mathbb R}\). The author claims that this ``approach to the construction of the wave operator is a novel of which we believe to be deeper than mere analogy with the classical case. In fact, our point of view is that the conventional picture of physics emerges as a classical limit of a purely quantum/algebraic phenomena and not the other way around.'' (from the introduction) The second part is devoted to the physical model building using this framework, up to and including the Schwarzschild black hole. The wave operator obtained is used to quantise any spherically symmetric static metric, including, in particular, a `black hole differential algebra' associated to a natural conformal Killing vector on the classical black hole 3-geometry.