Quantum mechanics on manifolds and topological effects

A unique classification of the topological effects associated to quantum mechanics on manifolds is obtained on the basis of the invariance under diffeomorphisms and the realization of the Lie-Rinehart relations between the generators of the diffeomorphism group and the algebra of infinitely differentiable functions on the manifold. This leads to a unique ("Lie-Rinehart") C* algebra as observable algebra; its regular representations are shown to be locally Schroedinger and in one to one correspondence with the unitary representations of the fundamental group of the manifold. Therefore, in the absence of spin degrees of freedom and external fields, the first homotopy group of the manifold appears as the only source of topological effects.Comment: A few comments have been added to the Introduction, together with related references; a few words have been changed in the Abstract and a Note added to the Titl

Bohmian Mechanics is Not Deterministic

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Perturbative Quantum Field Theory at Positive Temperatures: An Axiomatic Approach

It is shown that the perturbative expansions of the correlation functions of a relativistic quantum field theory at finite temperature are uniquely determined by the equations of motion and standard axiomatic requirements, including the KMS condition. An explicit expression as a sum over generalized Feynman graphs is derived. The canonical formalism is not used, and the derivation proceeds from the beginning in the thermodynamic limit. No doubling of fields is invoked. An unsolved problem concerning existence of these perturbative expressions is pointed out.Comment: 17pages Late

Lie Groupoids and Lie algebroids in physics and noncommutative geometry

The aim of this review paper is to explain the relevance of Lie groupoids and Lie algebroids to both physicists and noncommutative geometers. Groupoids generalize groups, spaces, group actions, and equivalence relations. This last aspect dominates in noncommutative geometry, where groupoids provide the basic tool to desingularize pathological quotient spaces. In physics, however, the main role of groupoids is to provide a unified description of internal and external symmetries. What is shared by noncommutative geometry and physics is the importance of Connes's idea of associating a C*-algebra C*(G) to a Lie groupoid G: in noncommutative geometry C*(G) replaces a given singular quotient space by an appropriate noncommutative space, whereas in physics it gives the algebra of observables of a quantum system whose symmetries are encoded by G. Moreover, Connes's map G -> C*(G) has a classical analogue G -> A*(G) in symplectic geometry due to Weinstein, which defines the Poisson manifold of the corresponding classical system as the dual of the so-called Lie algebroid A(G) of the Lie groupoid G, an object generalizing both Lie algebras and tangent bundles. This will also lead into symplectic groupoids and the conjectural functoriality of quantization.Comment: 39 pages; to appear in special issue of J. Geom. Phy

A model-theoretic interpretation of environmentally-induced superselection

Environmentally-induced superselection or "einselection" has been proposed as an observer-independent mechanism by which apparently classical systems "emerge" from physical interactions between degrees of freedom described completely quantum-mechanically. It is shown that einselection can only generate classical systems if the "environment" is assumed \textit{a priori} to be classical; einselection therefore does not provide an observer-independent mechanism by which classicality can emerge from quantum dynamics. Einselection is then reformulated in terms of positive operator-valued measures (POVMs) acting on a global quantum state. It is shown that this re-formulation enables a natural interpretation of apparently-classical systems as virtual machines that requires no assumptions beyond those of classical computer science.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure; minor correction

Algebraic Quantization, Good Operators and Fractional Quantum Numbers

The problems arising when quantizing systems with periodic boundary conditions are analysed, in an algebraic (group-) quantization scheme, and the ``failure" of the Ehrenfest theorem is clarified in terms of the already defined notion of {\it good} (and {\it bad}) operators. The analysis of ``constrained" Heisenberg-Weyl groups according to this quantization scheme reveals the possibility for new quantum (fractional) numbers extending those allowed for Chern classes in traditional Geometric Quantization. This study is illustrated with the examples of the free particle on the circumference and the charged particle in a homogeneous magnetic field on the torus, both examples featuring ``anomalous" operators, non-equivalent quantization and the latter, fractional quantum numbers. These provide the rationale behind flux quantization in superconducting rings and Fractional Quantum Hall Effect, respectively.Comment: 29 pages, latex, 1 figure included with EPSF. Revised version with minor changes intended to clarify notation. Acepted for publication in Comm. Math. Phy

Dimensional Reduction and Quantum-to-Classical Reduction at High Temperatures

We discuss the relation between dimensional reduction in quantum field theories at finite temperature and a familiar quantum mechanical phenomenon that quantum effects become negligible at high temperatures. Fermi and Bose fields are compared in this respect. We show that decoupling of fermions from the dimensionally reduced theory can be related to the non-existence of classical statistics for a Fermi field.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX, revised v. to be published in Phys. Rev. D: some points made more explici

Real time thermal propagtors for massive gauge bosons

We derive Feynman rules for gauge theories exhibiting spontaneous symmetry breaking using the real-time formalism of finite temperature field theory. We also derive the thermal propagators where only the physical degrees of freedom are given thermal boundary conditions. We analyse the abelian Higgs model and find that these new propagators simplify the calculation of the thermal contribution to the self energy.Comment: 7 pages, late

A topos for algebraic quantum theory

The aim of this paper is to relate algebraic quantum mechanics to topos theory, so as to construct new foundations for quantum logic and quantum spaces. Motivated by Bohr's idea that the empirical content of quantum physics is accessible only through classical physics, we show how a C*-algebra of observables A induces a topos T(A) in which the amalgamation of all of its commutative subalgebras comprises a single commutative C*-algebra. According to the constructive Gelfand duality theorem of Banaschewski and Mulvey, the latter has an internal spectrum S(A) in T(A), which in our approach plays the role of a quantum phase space of the system. Thus we associate a locale (which is the topos-theoretical notion of a space and which intrinsically carries the intuitionistic logical structure of a Heyting algebra) to a C*-algebra (which is the noncommutative notion of a space). In this setting, states on A become probability measures (more precisely, valuations) on S(A), and self-adjoint elements of A define continuous functions (more precisely, locale maps) from S(A) to Scott's interval domain. Noting that open subsets of S(A) correspond to propositions about the system, the pairing map that assigns a (generalized) truth value to a state and a proposition assumes an extremely simple categorical form. Formulated in this way, the quantum theory defined by A is essentially turned into a classical theory, internal to the topos T(A).Comment: 52 pages, final version, to appear in Communications in Mathematical Physic

An Obstruction to Quantization of the Sphere

In the standard example of strict deformation quantization of the symplectic sphere $S^2$, the set of allowed values of the quantization parameter $\hbar$ is not connected; indeed, it is almost discrete. Li recently constructed a class of examples (including $S^2$) in which $\hbar$ can take any value in an interval, but these examples are badly behaved. Here, I identify a natural additional axiom for strict deformation quantization and prove that it implies that the parameter set for quantizing $S^2$ is never connected.Comment: 23 page. v2: changed sign conventio