Noncommutativity as a colimit (Q695318)

The paper under review makes another step in the so-called Bohrification programme (the term of the authors), which was started in [\textit{C. Heunen}, \textit{N. P. Landsman} and \textit{B. Spitters}, ``Bohrification'', in: H. Halvorson (ed.) et al., Deep beauty. Understanding the quantum world through mathematical innovation. Papers based on the presentations at the deep beauty symposium, 271--313 (2011; Zbl 1234.81025)], and which was motivated by Bohr's doctrine of classical concepts, stating that quantum mechanical systems could be understood through their classical fragments. More precisely, quantum mechanical systems cannot be interpreted globally as classical systems, but they do allow for a local classical interpretation. Following the above-mentioned line of research, in the first place, the authors show that every partial Boolean algebra (in the sense of~\textit{S.~Kochen} and \textit{E.~P.~Specker} [``The problem of hidden variables in quantum mechanics'', J. Math. Mech. 17, 59--87 (1967; Zbl 0156.23302]) is a co\-limit of its (finitely generated) total subalgebras (Theorem~1 on p. 396). Moreover, the result is still valid for partial complete Boolean algebras (Theorem~3 on p. 399). Additionally, the authors extend the well-known duality between Boolean algebras and Stone spaces (see, e.g., [\textit{P.~T.~Johnstone}, Stone spaces. Cambridge University Press (1982; Zbl 0499.54001)]) to partial Boolean algebras (Theorem~4 on p. 400). In the second place, they introduce the concept of partial \(C^{\ast}\)-algebras (Definition~3 on p. 400), and show that every partial \(C^{\ast}\)-algebra is a colimit of its (finitely generated) commutative \(C^{\ast}\)-subalgebras (Theorem~5 on p. 402). Moreover, the result in question is still valid in case of, e.g., partial Rickart \(C^{\ast}\)-algebras~[\textit{S.~K.~Berberian}, Baer \(^*\)-rings. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer-Verlag (1972; Zbl 0242.16008)] (Theorem~7 on p. 405). Employing Theorem~5, the authors provide an extension of Gelfand duality between commutative \(C^{\ast}\)-algebras and compact Hausdorff spaces (see, e.g., the above-mentioned book by P.~T.~Johnstone) to partial \(C^{\ast}\)-algebras (Theorem~9 on p. 407). In the third place, the authors construct a functor from the category of partial \(C^{\ast}\)-algebras to the category of partial Boolean algebras (Lemma~2 on p. 408), which assigns to a partial \(C^{\ast}\)-algebra \(A\) the Boolean algebra of its projections (namely, elements \(p\in A\) such that \(p^{\ast}=p=p^2\)), and which appears to preserve coproducts and be monoidal (Proposition~8 on p. 410). In the last section of the paper, the authors show that the Bohrification construction of C.~Heunen et al. is functorial (Proposition~9 on p. 411), and, moreover, induces a functor to the category of locales (Theorem~10 on p. 412). The paper is well-written, reasonably self-contained, and its results are not too difficult to follow, provided that the reader has a sufficient background on \(C^{\ast}\)-algebras and their related techniques from, e.g., [\textit{R.~V.~Kadison} and \textit{J.~R.~Ringrose}, Fundamentals of the theory of operator algebras. Vol. I: Elementary theory (1997; Zbl 0888.46039); Vol. II: Advanced theory (1997; Zbl 0991.46031)].