A new approach to quantising space-time. III: State vectors as functions on arrows

DOI10.4310/ATMP.2004.V8.N5.A2MaRDI QIDQ2493540zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Yanyan Li

Publication date 20 June 2006

Published in Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0306064

zbMATH Keywords

functions on arrowsHilbert bundle schemequantisationState vectors

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Categories of spans/cospans, relations, or partial maps (18B10) Logical foundations of quantum mechanics; quantum logic (quantum-theoretic aspects) (81P10) Noncommutative geometry in quantum theory (81R60) General quantum mechanics and problems of quantization (81S99) Quantization in field theory; cohomological methods (81T70) Quantization of the gravitational field (83C45)

Abstract: In two recent papers by the author, a new approach was suggested for quantising space-time, or space. This involved developing a procedure for quantising a system whose configuration space--or history-theory analogue--is the set of objects, $ObQ$, in a (small) category $Q$. The quantum states in this approach are cross-sections of a bundle $AleadstoK[A]$ of Hilbert spaces over $ObQ$. The Hilbert spaces $K[A]$, $AinObQ$, depend strongly on the object $A$, and have to be chosen so as to get an irreducible, faithful, representation of the basic `category quantisation monoid'. In the present paper, we develop a different approach in which the state vectors are complex-valued functions on the set of {em arrows} in $Q$. This throws a new light on the Hilbert bundle scheme: in particular, we recover the results of that approach in the, physically important, example when $Q$ is a small category of finite sets.

Review text

[For part I and II see the reviews above.] This is the third work of the author's series of three papers on a new approach to quantising space-time: the first is [Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 7, No. 2, 331--367 (2003; Zbl 1093.81058)] on quantising on a general category and the second is [Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 7, No. 5, 807--829 (2003; Zbl 1094.81007)] on quantising on a category of sets. In the first paper, the author proposed a new approach for constructing quantum theories that might be used particularly in potential approaches to quantum gravity that involve non-manifold models for space or space-time. There the configuration space is the set of objects \(\text{Ob}({\mathcal Q})\) in a category \({\mathcal Q}\). The quantum states in this approach are cross-sections of a bundle \(A \rightsquigarrow {\mathcal K}[A]\) of Hilbert spaces over \(\text{Ob}({\mathcal Q})\). The Hilbert spaces \({\mathcal K}[A]\), \(A \in \text{Ob}({\mathcal Q})\), depend strongly on the object \(A\), and have to be chosen so as to get an irreducible faithful representation of the basic category quantisation monoid \(AF({\mathcal Q})\). The aim of the second paper consists in giving some examples of the above-obtained scheme to illustrate the basic ideas. Namely, in the second paper the author showed how this theory works in practice for categories of sets. The purpose of the present paper is to develop a different approach in which the state vectors are complex-valued functions on the set of arrows in \({\mathcal Q}\). This throws a new light on the Hilbert bundle scheme. In particular, it is shown that the results of that approach in the physically important example when \({\mathcal Q}\) is a small category of finite sets is reccovered.

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Cited in

(8)

• A new approach to a quantising systems. II: Quantising on a category of sets
• Conceptual and technical challenges of quantum gravity
• `Third' quantization of vacuum Einstein gravity and free Yang-Mills theories
• A heuristic philosophical discourse on various applications of abstract differential geometry in quantum gravity research
• Quantising on a category
• A new approach to quantising space-time. I: Quantising on a general category
• Glafka-2004: categorical quantum gravity
• Finitary topos for locally finite, causal and quantal vacuum Einstein gravity

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