Complex Moduli of Physical Quanta

Classical mechanics can be formulated using a symplectic structure on classical phase space, while quantum mechanics requires a complex-differentiable structure on that same space. Complex-differentiable structures on a given real manifold are often not unique. This letter is devoted to analysing the dependence of the notion of a quantum on the complex-differentiable structure chosen on classical phase space.Comment: Some minor cosmetic changes made and new refs. adde

Noncommutative Manifolds from the Higgs Sector of Coincident D-Branes

The Higgs sector of the low-energy physics of n of coincident D-branes contains the necessary elements for constructing noncommutative manifolds. The coordinates orthogonal to the coincident branes, as well as their conjugate momenta, take values in the Lie algebra of the gauge group living inside the brane stack. In the limit when n=\infty (and in the absence of orientifolds), this is the unitary Lie algebra u(\infty). Placing a smooth manifold K orthogonally to the stack of coincident D-branes one can construct a noncommutative C*-algebra that provides a natural definition of a noncommutative partner for the manifold K.Comment: 10 page

Quantum-Mechanical Dualities from Classical Phase Space

The geometry of the classical phase space C of a finite number of degrees of freedom determines the possible duality symmetries of the corresponding quantum mechanics. Under duality we understand the relativity of the notion of a quantum with respect to an observer on C. We illustrate this property explicitly in the case when classical phase space is complex n-dimensional projective space. We also provide some examples of classical dynamics that exhibit these properties at the quantum level.Comment: 8 pages, Late

Gerbes and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

We prove that a gerbe with a connection can be defined on classical phase space, taking the U(1)-valued phase of certain Feynman path integrals as Cech 2-cocycles. A quantisation condition on the corresponding 3-form field strength is proved to be equivalent to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure available upon reques

Quantum-Mechanical Dualities on the Torus

On classical phase spaces admitting just one complex-differentiable structure, there is no indeterminacy in the choice of the creation operators that create quanta out of a given vacuum. In these cases the notion of a quantum is universal, i.e., independent of the observer on classical phase space. Such is the case in all standard applications of quantum mechanics. However, recent developments suggest that the notion of a quantum may not be universal. Transformations between observers that do not agree on the notion of an elementary quantum are called dualities. Classical phase spaces admitting more than one complex-differentiable structure thus provide a natural framework to study dualities in quantum mechanics. As an example we quantise a classical mechanics whose phase space is a torus and prove explicitly that it exhibits dualities.Comment: New examples added, some precisions mad

Quantum Dynamics on the Worldvolume from Classical su(n) Cohomology

A key symmetry of classical $p$-branes is invariance under worldvolume diffeomorphisms. Under the assumption that the worldvolume, at fixed values of the time, is a compact, quantisable K\"ahler manifold, we prove that the Lie algebra of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms of the worldvolume can be approximated by $su(n)$, for $n\to\infty$. We also prove, under the same assumptions regarding the worldvolume at fixed time, that classical Nambu brackets on the worldvolume are quantised by the multibrackets corresponding to cocycles in the cohomology of the Lie algebra $su(n)$.Comment: This is a contribution to the Special Issue on Deformation Quantization, published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA

Semiclassical Expansions, the Strong Quantum Limit, and Duality

We show how to complement Feynman's exponential of the action so that it exhibits a Z_2 duality symmetry. The latter illustrates a relativity principle for the notion of quantum versus classical.Comment: 5 pages, references adde

Quantum States from Tangent Vectors

We argue that tangent vectors to classical phase space give rise to quantum states of the corresponding quantum mechanics. This is established for the case of complex, finite-dimensional, compact, classical phase spaces C, by explicitly constructing Hilbert-space vector bundles over C. We find that these vector bundles split as the direct sum of two holomorphic vector bundles: the holomorphic tangent bundle T(C), plus a complex line bundle N(C). Quantum states (except the vacuum) appear as tangent vectors to C. The vacuum state appears as the fibrewise generator of N(C). Holomorphic line bundles N(C) are classified by the elements of Pic(C), the Picard group of C. In this way Pic(C) appears as the parameter space for nonequivalent vacua. Our analysis is modelled on, but not limited to, the case when C is complex projective space.Comment: Refs. update

A Quantum is a Complex Structure on Classical Phase Space

Duality transformations within the quantum mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom can be regarded as the dependence of the notion of a quantum, i.e., an elementary excitation of the vacuum, on the observer on classical phase space. Under an observer we understand, as in general relativity, a local coordinate chart. While classical mechanics can be formulated using a symplectic structure on classical phase space, quantum mechanics requires a complex-differentiable structure on that same space. Complex-differentiable structures on a given real manifold are often not unique. This article is devoted to analysing the dependence of the notion of a quantum on the complex-differentiable structure chosen on classical phase space

A Quantum-Gravity Perspective on Semiclassical vs. Strong-Quantum Duality

It has been argued that, underlying M-theoretic dualities, there should exist a symmetry relating the semiclassical and the strong-quantum regimes of a given action integral. On the other hand, a field-theoretic exchange between long and short distances (similar in nature to the T-duality of strings) has been shown to provide a starting point for quantum gravity, in that this exchange enforces the existence of a fundamental length scale on spacetime. In this letter we prove that the above semiclassical vs. strong-quantum symmetry is equivalent to the exchange of long and short distances. Hence the former symmetry, as much as the latter, also enforces the existence of a length scale. We apply these facts in order to classify all possible duality groups of a given action integral on spacetime, regardless of its specific nature and of its degrees of freedom.Comment: 10 page