Pro-Lie Groups: A survey with Open Problems

A topological group is called a pro-Lie group if it is isomorphic to a closed subgroup of a product of finite-dimensional real Lie groups. This class of groups is closed under the formation of arbitrary products and closed subgroups and forms a complete category. It includes each finite-dimensional Lie group, each locally compact group which has a compact quotient group modulo its identity component and thus, in particular, each compact and each connected locally compact group; it also includes all locally compact abelian groups. This paper provides an overview of the structure theory and Lie theory of pro-Lie groups including results more recent than those in the authors' reference book on pro-Lie groups. Significantly, it also includes a review of the recent insight that weakly complete unital algebras provide a natural habitat for both pro-Lie algebras and pro-Lie groups, indeed for the exponential function which links the two. (A topological vector space is weakly complete if it is isomorphic to a power $\R^X$ of an arbitrary set of copies of $\R$. This class of real vector spaces is at the basis of the Lie theory of pro-Lie groups.) The article also lists 12 open questions connected with pro-Lie groups.Comment: 19 page

Poisson spaces with a transition probability

The common structure of the space of pure states $P$ of a classical or a quantum mechanical system is that of a Poisson space with a transition probability. This is a topological space equipped with a Poisson structure, as well as with a function $p:P\times P-> [0,1]$, with certain properties. The Poisson structure is connected with the transition probabilities through unitarity (in a specific formulation intrinsic to the given context). In classical mechanics, where p(\rho,\sigma)=\dl_{\rho\sigma}, unitarity poses no restriction on the Poisson structure. Quantum mechanics is characterized by a specific (complex Hilbert space) form of $p$, and by the property that the irreducible components of $P$ as a transition probability space coincide with the symplectic leaves of $P$ as a Poisson space. In conjunction, these stipulations determine the Poisson structure of quantum mechanics up to a multiplicative constant (identified with Planck's constant). Motivated by E.M. Alfsen, H. Hanche-Olsen and F.W. Shultz ({\em Acta Math.} {\bf 144} (1980) 267-305) and F.W. Shultz ({\em Commun.\ Math.\ Phys.} {\bf 82} (1982) 497-509), we give axioms guaranteeing that $P$ is the space of pure states of a unital $C^*$-algebra. We give an explicit construction of this algebra from $P$.Comment: 23 pages, LaTeX, many details adde

Locally Trivial W*-Bundles

We prove that a tracially continuous W$^*$-bundle $\mathcal{M}$ over a compact Hausdorff space $X$ with all fibres isomorphic to the hyperfinite II$_1$-factor $\mathcal{R}$ that is locally trivial already has to be globally trivial. The proof uses the contractibility of the automorphism group $\mathrm{Aut}({\mathcal{R}})$ shown by Popa and Takesaki. There is no restriction on the covering dimension of $X$.Comment: 20 pages, this version will be published in the International Journal of Mathematic

A note on information theoretic characterizations of physical theories

Clifton, Bub, and Halvorson [Foundations of Physics 33, 1561 (2003)] have recently argued that quantum theory is characterized by its satisfaction of three information-theoretic axioms. However, it is not difficult to construct apparent counterexamples to the CBH characterization theorem. In this paper, we discuss the limits of the characterization theorem, and we provide some technical tools for checking whether a theory (specified in terms of the convex structure of its state space) falls within these limits.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, Contribution to Rob Clifton memorial conferenc

Lattice-ordered abelian groups and perfect MV-algebras: a topos-theoretic perspective

We establish, generalizing Di Nola and Lettieri's categorical equivalence, a Morita-equivalence between the theory of lattice-ordered abelian groups and that of perfect MV-algebras. Further, after observing that the two theories are not bi-interpretable in the classical sense, we identify, by considering appropriate topos-theoretic invariants on their common classifying topos, three levels of bi-intepretability holding for particular classes of formulas: irreducible formulas, geometric sentences and imaginaries. Lastly, by investigating the classifying topos of the theory of perfect MV-algebras, we obtain various results on its syntax and semantics also in relation to the cartesian theory of the variety generated by Chang's MV-algebra, including a concrete representation for the finitely presentable models of the latter theory as finite products of finitely presentable perfect MV-algebras. Among the results established on the way, we mention a Morita-equivalence between the theory of lattice-ordered abelian groups and that of cancellative lattice-ordered abelian monoids with bottom element.Comment: 54 page

Algebraic Quantum Theory on Manifolds: A Haag-Kastler Setting for Quantum Geometry

Motivated by the invariance of current representations of quantum gravity under diffeomorphisms much more general than isometries, the Haag-Kastler setting is extended to manifolds without metric background structure. First, the causal structure on a differentiable manifold M of arbitrary dimension (d+1>2) can be defined in purely topological terms, via cones (C-causality). Then, the general structure of a net of C*-algebras on a manifold M and its causal properties required for an algebraic quantum field theory can be described as an extension of the Haag-Kastler axiomatic framework. An important application is given with quantum geometry on a spatial slice within the causally exterior region of a topological horizon H, resulting in a net of Weyl algebras for states with an infinite number of intersection points of edges and transversal (d-1)-faces within any neighbourhood of the spatial boundary S^2.Comment: 15 pages, Latex; v2: several corrections, in particular in def. 1 and in sec.