Remarks on Alain Connes' approach to the standard model

Our 1992 remarks about Alain Connes' interpretation of the standard model within his theory of non-commutative riemannian spin manifolds.Comment: 9 pages TeX, dedicated to the memory of E. M. Polivano

Spectral noncommutative geometry and quantization: a simple example

We explore the relation between noncommutative geometry, in the spectral triple formulation, and quantum mechanics. To this aim, we consider a dynamical theory of a noncommutative geometry defined by a spectral triple, and study its quantization. In particular, we consider a simple model based on a finite dimensional spectral triple (A, H, D), which mimics certain aspects of the spectral formulation of general relativity. We find the physical phase space, which is the space of the onshell Dirac operators compatible with A and H. We define a natural symplectic structure over this phase space and construct the corresponding quantum theory using a covariant canonical quantization approach. We show that the Connes distance between certain two states over the algebra A (two ``spacetime points''), which is an arbitrary positive number in the classical noncommutative geometry, turns out to be discrete in the quantum theory, and we compute its spectrum. The quantum states of the noncommutative geometry form a Hilbert space K. D is promoted to an operator *D on the direct product *H of H and K. The triple (A, *H, *D) can be viewed as the quantization of the family of the triples (A, H, D).Comment: 7 pages, no figure

The uses of Connes and Kreimer's algebraic formulation of renormalization theory

We show how, modulo the distinction between the antipode and the "twisted" or "renormalized" antipode, Connes and Kreimer's algebraic paradigm trivializes the proofs of equivalence of the (corrected) Dyson-Salam, Bogoliubov-Parasiuk-Hepp and Zimmermann procedures for renormalizing Feynman amplitudes. We discuss the outlook for a parallel simplification of computations in quantum field theory, stemming from the same algebraic approach.Comment: 15 pages, Latex. Minor changes, typos fixed, 2 references adde

Cartan Pairs

A new notion of Cartan pairs as a substitute of notion of vector fields in noncommutative geometry is proposed. The correspondence between Cartan pairs and differential calculi is established.Comment: 7 pages in LaTeX, to be published in Czechoslovak Journal of Physics, presented at the 5th Colloquium on Quantum Groups and Integrable Systems, Prague, June 199

Gravity coupled with matter and foundation of non-commutative geometry

We first exhibit in the commutative case the simple algebraic relations between the algebra of functions on a manifold and its infinitesimal length element $ds$. Its unitary representations correspond to Riemannian metrics and Spin structure while $ds$ is the Dirac propagator ds = \ts \!\!---\!\! \ts = D^{-1} where $D$ is the Dirac operator. We extend these simple relations to the non commutative case using Tomita's involution $J$. We then write a spectral action, the trace of a function of the length element in Planck units, which when applied to the non commutative geometry of the Standard Model will be shown (in a joint work with Ali Chamseddine) to give the SM Lagrangian coupled to gravity. The internal fluctuations of the non commutative geometry are trivial in the commutative case but yield the full bosonic sector of SM with all correct quantum numbers in the slightly non commutative case. The group of local gauge transformations appears spontaneously as a normal subgroup of the diffeomorphism group.Comment: 30 pages, Plain Te

Fluctuation Operators and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

We develop an alternative approach to this field, which was to a large extent developed by Verbeure et al. It is meant to complement their approach, which is largely based on a non-commutative central limit theorem and coordinate space estimates. In contrast to that we deal directly with the limits of $l$-point truncated correlation functions and show that they typically vanish for $l\geq 3$ provided that the respective scaling exponents of the fluctuation observables are appropriately chosen. This direct approach is greatly simplified by the introduction of a smooth version of spatial averaging, which has a much nicer scaling behavior and the systematic developement of Fourier space and energy-momentum spectral methods. We both analyze the regime of normal fluctuations, the various regimes of poor clustering and the case of spontaneous symmetry breaking or Goldstone phenomenon.Comment: 30 pages, Latex, a more detailed discussion in section 7 as to possible scaling behavior of l-point function

Polynomial rings of the chiral SU(N)2SU(N)_{2} models

Via explicit diagonalization of the chiral $SU(N)_{2}$ fusion matrices, we discuss the possibility of representing the fusion ring of the chiral SU(N) models, at level K=2, by a polynomial ring in a single variable when $N$ is odd and by a polynomial ring in two variables when $N$ is even.Comment: 10 pages, LaTex (ioplppt.sty