H*-algebras and nonunital Frobenius algebras: first steps in infinite-dimensional categorical quantum mechanics

A certain class of Frobenius algebras has been used to characterize orthonormal bases and observables on finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. The presence of units in these algebras means that they can only be realized finite-dimensionally. We seek a suitable generalization, which will allow arbitrary bases and observables to be described within categorical axiomatizations of quantum mechanics. We develop a definition of H*-algebra that can be interpreted in any symmetric monoidal dagger category, reduces to the classical notion from functional analysis in the category of (possibly infinite-dimensional) Hilbert spaces, and hence provides a categorical way to speak about orthonormal bases and quantum observables in arbitrary dimension. Moreover, these algebras reduce to the usual notion of Frobenius algebra in compact categories. We then investigate the relations between nonunital Frobenius algebras and H*-algebras. We give a number of equivalent conditions to characterize when they coincide in the category of Hilbert spaces. We also show that they always coincide in categories of generalized relations and positive matrices.Comment: 29 pages. Final versio

Complete Positivity for Mixed Unitary Categories

In this article we generalize the \CP^\infty-construction of dagger monoidal categories to mixed unitary categories. Mixed unitary categories provide a setting, which generalizes (compact) dagger monoidal categories and in which one may study quantum processes of arbitrary (infinite) dimensions. We show that the existing results for the \CP^\infty-construction hold in this more general setting. In particular, we generalize the notion of environment structures to mixed unitary categories and show that the \CP^\infty-construction on mixed unitary categories is characterized by this generalized environment structure.Comment: Lots of figure

Groupoids, Frobenius algebras and Poisson sigma models

In this paper we discuss some connections between groupoids and Frobenius algebras specialized in the case of Poisson sigma models with boundary. We prove a correspondence between groupoids in the category Set and relative Frobenius algebras in the category Rel, as well as an adjunction between a special type of semigroupoids and relative H*-algebras. The connection between groupoids and Frobenius algebras is made explicit by introducing what we called weak monoids and relational symplectic groupoids, in the context of Poisson sigma models with boundary and in particular, describing such structures in the ex- tended symplectic category and the category of Hilbert spaces. This is part of a joint work with Alberto Cattaneo and Chris Heunen.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure. To appear in "Mathematical Aspects of Quantum Field Theories". Mathematical Physical Studies, Springer. Proceedings of the Winter School in Mathematical Physics, Les Houges, 201

Pictures of complete positivity in arbitrary dimension

Two fundamental contributions to categorical quantum mechanics are presented. First, we generalize the CP-construction, that turns any dagger compact category into one with completely positive maps, to arbitrary dimension. Second, we axiomatize when a given category is the result of this construction.Comment: Final versio

Bases as Coalgebras

The free algebra adjunction, between the category of algebras of a monad and the underlying category, induces a comonad on the category of algebras. The coalgebras of this comonad are the topic of study in this paper (following earlier work). It is illustrated how such coalgebras-on-algebras can be understood as bases, decomposing each element x into primitives elements from which x can be reconstructed via the operations of the algebra. This holds in particular for the free vector space monad, but also for other monads, like powerset or distribution. For instance, continuous dcpos or stably continuous frames, where each element is the join of the elements way below it, can be described as such coalgebras. Further, it is shown how these coalgebras-on-algebras give rise to a comonoid structure for copy and delete, and thus to diagonalisation of endomaps like in linear algebra