Boolean subalgebras of orthoalgebras

DOI10.1007/S11083-019-09483-6MaRDI QIDQ2279686zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors John Harding, Chris Heunen, Bert Lindenhovius, Mirko Navara

Publication date 13 December 2019

Published in Order (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.03748, http://hdl.handle.net/10467/96483

Boolean subalgebra categorical equivalence hypergraph orthoalgebra orthomodular poset projective geometry

Quantum logic (03G12) Complemented lattices, orthocomplemented lattices and posets (06C15) Generalizations of Boolean algebras (06E75)

Abstract: We develop a direct method to recover an orthoalgebra from its poset of Boolean subalgebras. For this a new notion of direction is introduced. Directions are also used to characterize in purely order-theoretic terms those posets that are isomorphic to the poset of Boolean subalgebras of an orthoalgebra. These posets are characterized by simple conditions defining orthodomains and the additional requirement of having enough directions. Excepting pathologies involving maximal Boolean subalgebras of four elements, it is shown that there is an equivalence between the category of orthoalgebras and the category of orthodomains with enough directions with morphisms suitably defined. Furthermore, we develop a representation of orthodomains with enough directions, and hence of orthoalgebras, as certain hypergraphs. This hypergraph approach extends the technique of Greechie diagrams and resembles projective geometry. Using such hypergraphs, every orthomodular poset can be represented by a set of points and lines where each line contains exactly three points.

Review text

After an introduction, several pages are devoted to notions and results about Boolean algebras which are needed later. A \textit{Boolean domain} is a lattice $X$ isomorphic to the lattice $\mathrm{sub}(B)$ of subalgebras of a BA. The smallest and largest elements of $X$ is denoted by $\perp$, resp. $\top$. An element $x$ of $X$ is \textit{dual modular} if and only if it corresponds to a subalgebra of the form $I\cup I'$ for some ideal $I$. An element of a Boolean domain $X$ is \textit{basic} if and only if it is $\perp$ or an atom. A \textit{principal pair} of $X$ is a pair $(y,z)$ such that $y=\top$ and $z$ is basic, or $z=\top$ and $y$ is basic, or $y\vee z=\top$ and $y\wedge z$ is basic but not dual modular. $\mathrm{Pp}(X)$ is the set of all principal pairs of $X$. The main theorem of this Boolean part of the paper is that if $|B|>4$ then there is a natual isomorphism from $B$ to $\mathrm{Pp}(\mathrm{sub}(B))$. An \textit{orthoalgebra} is an algebra on a set $A$ with a partial operation $\oplus$ and distinguished element 0,1 such that $\oplus$ satisfies commutative and associative laws, for every $a\in A$ there is a unique $b\in A$ such that $a\oplus b=1$, and if $p\oplus p$ is defined, then $p=0$. An orthoalgebra is \textit{Boolean} if and only if it arises from a BA by restricting $\vee$ to pairs of disjoint elements. $\mathrm{Bsub}(A)$ is the collection of Boolean subalgebras of $A$, ordered by inclusion. A \textit{block} of $A$ is a maximal Boolean subalgebra. $A$ is \textit{proper} if and only if all its blocks have size greater than 4. The notion of orthdomain includes $\mathrm{Bsub}(A)$ as an important special case. Directions on an orthodomain generalize a similar notion for Boolean domains. One of the main theorems is that if $A$ is a proper orthoalgebra then there is an isomorphism of $A$ with the collection of directions of $\mathrm{Bsub}(A)$. Another major result is a characterization of those orthodomains isomorphic to $\mathrm{Bsub}(A)$ for some orthoalgebra $A$. The correspondence between orthoalgebras and their associated system of Boolean subalgebras is clarified using the notion of hypergraph.

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