28,709 research outputs found

    A hierarchy of compatibility and comeasurability levels in quantum logics with unique conditional probabilities

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    In the quantum mechanical Hilbert space formalism, the probabilistic interpretation is a later ad-hoc add-on, more or less enforced by the experimental evidence, but not motivated by the mathematical model itself. A model involving a clear probabilistic interpretation from the very beginning is provided by the quantum logics with unique conditional probabilities. It includes the projection lattices in von Neumann algebras and here probability conditionalization becomes identical with the state transition of the Lueders - von Neumann measurement process. This motivates the definition of a hierarchy of five compatibility and comeasurability levels in the abstract setting of the quantum logics with unique conditional probabilities. Their meanings are: the absence of quantum interference or influence, the existence of a joint distribution, simultaneous measurability, and the independence of the final state after two successive measurements from the sequential order of these two measurements. A further level means that two elements of the quantum logic (events) belong to the same Boolean subalgebra. In the general case, the five compatibility and comeasurability levels appear to differ, but they all coincide in the common Hilbert space formalism of quantum mechanics, in von Neumann algebras, and in some other cases.Comment: 12 page

    Two-dimensional models as testing ground for principles and concepts of local quantum physics

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    In the past two-dimensional models of QFT have served as theoretical laboratories for testing new concepts under mathematically controllable condition. In more recent times low-dimensional models (e.g. chiral models, factorizing models) often have been treated by special recipes in a way which sometimes led to a loss of unity of QFT. In the present work I try to counteract this apartheid tendency by reviewing past results within the setting of the general principles of QFT. To this I add two new ideas: (1) a modular interpretation of the chiral model Diff(S)-covariance with a close connection to the recently formulated local covariance principle for QFT in curved spacetime and (2) a derivation of the chiral model temperature duality from a suitable operator formulation of the angular Wick rotation (in analogy to the Nelson-Symanzik duality in the Ostertwalder-Schrader setting) for rational chiral theories. The SL(2,Z) modular Verlinde relation is a special case of this thermal duality and (within the family of rational models) the matrix S appearing in the thermal duality relation becomes identified with the statistics character matrix S. The relevant angular Euclideanization'' is done in the setting of the Tomita-Takesaki modular formalism of operator algebras. I find it appropriate to dedicate this work to the memory of J. A. Swieca with whom I shared the interest in two-dimensional models as a testing ground for QFT for more than one decade. This is a significantly extended version of an ``Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics'' contribution hep-th/0502125.Comment: 55 pages, removal of some typos in section

    Generalized Non-Commutative Inflation

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    Non-commutative geometry indicates a deformation of the energy-momentum dispersion relation f(E)≡Epc(≠1)f(E)\equiv\frac{E}{pc}(\neq 1) for massless particles. This distorted energy-momentum relation can affect the radiation dominated phase of the universe at sufficiently high temperature. This prompted the idea of non-commutative inflation by Alexander, Brandenberger and Magueijo (2003, 2005 and 2007). These authors studied a one-parameter family of non-relativistic dispersion relation that leads to inflation: the α\alpha family of curves f(E)=1+(λE)αf(E)=1+(\lambda E)^{\alpha}. We show here how the conceptually different structure of symmetries of non-commutative spaces can lead, in a mathematically consistent way, to the fundamental equations of non-commutative inflation driven by radiation. We describe how this structure can be considered independently of (but including) the idea of non-commutative spaces as a starting point of the general inflationary deformation of SL(2,C)SL(2,\mathbb{C}). We analyze the conditions on the dispersion relation that leads to inflation as a set of inequalities which plays the same role as the slow roll conditions on the potential of a scalar field. We study conditions for a possible numerical approach to obtain a general one parameter family of dispersion relations that lead to successful inflation.Comment: Final version considerably improved; Non-commutative inflation rigorously mathematically formulate
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