A comparison of two topos-theoretic approaches to quantum theory

DOI10.1007/S00220-012-1652-3zbMATH Open1298.81008arXiv1010.2031OpenAlexW2140140125MaRDI QIDQ1936655FDOQ1936655

Sander A. M. Wolters

Publication date: 6 February 2013

Published in: Communications in Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to compare the two topos-theoretic approaches to quantum mechanics that may be found in the literature to date. The first approach, which we will call the contravariant approach, was originally proposed by Isham and Butterfield, and was later extended by Doering and Isham. The second approach, which we will call the covariant approach, was developed by Heunen, Landsman and Spitters. Motivated by coarse-graining and the Kochen-Specker theorem, the contravariant approach uses the topos of presheaves on a specific context category, defined as the poset of commutative von Neumann subalgebras of some given von Neumann algebra. In particular, the approach uses the spectral presheaf. The intuitionistic logic of this approach is given by the (complete) Heyting algebra of closed open subob jects of the spectral presheaf. We show that this Heyting algebra is, in a natural way, a locale in the ambient topos, and compare this locale with the internal Gelfand spectrum of the covariant approach. In the covariant approach, a non-commutative C*-algebra (in the topos Set) defines a commutative C*-algebra internal to the topos of covariant functors from the context category to the category of sets. We give an explicit description of the internal Gelfand spectrum of this commutative C*-algebra, from which it follows that the external spectrum is spatial. Using the daseinisation of self-adjoint operators from the contravariant approach, we give a new definition of the daseinisation arrow in the covariant approach and compare it with the original version. States and state-proposition pairing in both approaches are compared. We also investigate the physical interpretation of the covariant approach.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1010.2031

zbMATH Keywords

von Neumann algebra\(C^*\)-algebraframecoarse grainingcontextualitylocalestate spacecovariant approachspectral presheafbohrificationcontravariant approachdaseinisation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) General mathematical topics and methods in quantum theory (81Q99) Yang-Mills and other gauge theories in quantum field theory (81T13) Quantum logic (03G12) Categorical logic, topoi (03G30) Topoi (18B25) Logical foundations of quantum mechanics; quantum logic (quantum-theoretic aspects) (81P10) Applications of selfadjoint operator algebras to physics (46L60) Applications of operator algebras to the sciences (47L90)

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