A new approach to quantising space-time. I: Quantising on a general category

DOI10.4310/ATMP.2003.V7.N2.A5MaRDI QIDQ819909zbMATH OpenFDO

Publication date 31 March 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/0303060

arrow-field quantum theory category monoid of arrow fields Quantising space-time set of objects

Categories of spans/cospans, relations, or partial maps (18B10) General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) 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: A new approach is suggested to the problem of quantising causal sets, or topologies, or other such models for space-time (or space). The starting point is the observation that entities of this type can be regarded as objects in a category whose arrows are structure-preserving maps. This motivates investigating the general problem of quantising a system whose `configuration space' (or history-theory analogue) can be regarded as the set of objects in a category. In this first of a series of papers, we study this question in general and develop a scheme based on constructing an analogue of the group that is used in the canonical quantisation of a system whose configuration space is a manifold

Q s i m e q G / H

where G and H are Lie groups. In particular, we choose as the analogue of G the monoid of `arrow fields' on the category. Physically, this means that an arrow between two objects in the category is viewed as some sort of analogue of momentum. After finding the `category quantisation monoid', we show how suitable representations can be constructed using a bundle of Hilbert spaces over the set of objects.

Review text

This is the first work of the author's series of three papers on a new approach to quantising space-time: the second is [Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 7, No. 5, 807--829 (2003; Zbl 1094.81007)] on quantising on a category of sets and the third is [Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 8, No. 5, 797--811 (2004; Zbl 1095.81058)] on state vectors as functions on arrows. According to the author, one of the challenging topics in quantum gravity is to give meaning to the idea of quantising space or space-time at a more fundamental level. The goal of the present paper is to invest these important concepts such as quantising causal sets or quantising topology with a new precise meaning. More precisely, it is to describe structure for an operator-based approach to quantising space or space-time. Suggested by the observation that entities of the causal sets-quantising problem can be regarded as objects in a category whose arrows are structure-preserving maps, the author is naturally led to investigation of the general problem of quantising a system whose configuration space (or history-theory analogie) can be regarded as the set of objects \(\text{Ob}({\mathcal Q})\) in a category \({\mathcal Q}\). In this paper the author studies this question in general and develops a scheme based on constructing an analogue of the group that is used in the canonical quantisation of a system whose configuration space is a manifold \(Q \simeq G/H\) where \(G\) and \(H\) are Lie groups. In particular, an important thing consists in the point that the monoid \(\text{AF}({\mathcal Q})\) of arrow fields on \({\mathcal Q}\) is chosen as the analogue of \(G\). Phisically, this means that an arrow between two objects in the category is viewed as some sort of analogue of momentum. Once the category quantisation monoid is found, it is shown how suitable repserentations can be constructed using a bundle of Hilbert spaces over \(\text{Ob}({\mathcal Q})\).

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