A new approach to a quantising systems. II: Quantising on a category of sets (Q1769028)

This is the second 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 third is [Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 8, No. 5, 797--811 (2004; Zbl 1095.81058)] on state vectors as functions on arrows. 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. This could include things like quantum topology, quantum manifolds and quantum causal sets, etc. There presented was a general solution to this problem of quantising on a category. The aim of this paper consists in giving some examples of the above-obtained scheme to illustrate the basic ideas. Namely, in the present paper the author shows how this theory works in practice for categories of sets. Starting with the simple case when \(\mathcal Q\) is a partially-ordered set whose objects are points with no internal structure, he expands a discussion of the quantisation on a category of sets. For a category of finite sets, the author shows how to construct explicit multiplier representations that separate the arrows in the category. Then how to extend these methods to non-finite sets is discussed briefly with the aid of categories of measure spaces. In addition, the author shows how certain special operations on causal sets (for example, taking the linear sum of two of them) can be incorporated naturally into the scheme, as can the lattice operations on a lattice. Finally, it is shown that the standard quantum field theory for a poset category provides with another special example of the scheme.