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arXiv:2610.25010

Thoughts on Quantum Events, Quantizing Gravity and von Neumann Algebras

Stephen Bruce Sontz

Published Oct 18, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

This short document presents no new results. It is a collection of related ideas that may lead to a way of quantizing gravity. To achieve this it may be relevant to use my recent new approach to quantum theory, which is based on quantum events. Given that most standard quantum texts do not define a mathematical object which corresponds to a physical event, the definition of a quantum event is motivated and discussed in detail. This in turn leads to the idea that the mathematical object that contains enough quantum events for describing a quantum system is a von Neumann algebra. The next idea is that the kinematics of special relativity (as embodied in flat Minkowski space) should be quantized as a first step in the program of the quantization of general relativity, that is, quantizing Einstein's equation. It must be emphasized that the events of special relativity are viewed as part of the kinematics, rather than of the dynamics of that theory. The same holds for general relativity. Similarly, I am viewing quantum events as part of the kinematics of quantum theory, even though some find this to be counterintuitive. An Appendix shows how ``collapse'' is easily understood in this new approach to quantum theory.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2610.25010

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This short document presents no new results. It is a collection of related ideas that may lead to a way of quantizing gravity. To achieve this it may be relevant to use my recent new approach to quantum theory, which is based on quantum events. Given that most standard quantum texts do not define a mathematical object which corresponds to a physical event, the definition of a quantum event is motivated and discussed in detail. This in turn leads to the idea that the mathematical object that contains enough quantum events for describing a quantum system is a von Neumann algebra. The next idea is that the kinematics of special relativity (as embodied in flat Minkowski space) should be quantized as a first step in the program of the quantization of general relativity, that is, quantizing Einstein's equation. It must be emphasized that the events of special relativity are viewed as part of the kinematics, rather than of the dynamics of that theory. The same holds for general relativity. Similarly, I am viewing quantum events as part of the kinematics of quantum theory, even though some find this to be counterintuitive. An Appendix shows how ``collapse'' is easily understood in this new approach to quantum theory.
@As a way of honoring Professor Wheeler on his sixtieth birthday, I propose to take this opportunity to elaborate upon certain somewhat speculative ideas which I have tried to hint at on occasion, concerning the possible nature of a quantized space-time. The reader will not need to be too discerning to recognize some substantial dierences between the ideas I am proposing here and those which Professor Wheeler has on many occasions so eloquently and forcefully put forward. Nonetheless, there is little doubt in my own mind as to the very great inspirational inuence that Professor Wheeler’s own views have had in the development of several of the thoughts which I am expressing here. To begin with, let me make clear that I do not necessarily mean by \quantized space-time something which could be obtained by applying standard (or even non-standard) techniques of quantization to Einstein’s general theory of relativity. What I wish to say has its roots in something which is really more primitive than either quantum theory or relativity as such. This is the question of the fundamental role played by the mathematical concept of continuum in virtually the whole of accepted present-day physical theory. Not only does the continuum occupy a basic position in our mathematical models of space and time (with the concomitant implication of a continuous nature for many related physical concepts such as velocity, energy, momentum, temperature, etc.), but so also does present-day quantum theory rest crucially on a continuum concept, namely on the two-dimensional complex continuum of probability amplitudes, this being the continuum which also occurs in the superposition law. Let me say at the outset that I am not happy with this state of aairs in physical theory. The mathematical continuum has always seemed to me to contain many features which are really very foreign to physics. This point = @ @
The geometric form of standard quantum mechanics is compatible with the two postulates: (1) the laws of physics are invariant under the choice of experimental setup and (2) every quantum observation or event is intrinsically statistical. These postulates remain compatible within a background independent extension of quantum theory with a local intrinsic time implying the relativity of the concept of a quantum event. In this extension the space of quantum events becomes dynamical and only individual quantum events make sense observationally. At the core of such a general theory of quantum relativity is the three-way interplay between the symplectic form, the dynamical metric and non-integrable almost complex structure of the space of quantum events. Such a formulation provides a missing conceptual ingredient in the search for a background independent quantum theory of gravity and matter. The crucial new technical element in our scheme derives from a set of recent mathematical results on certain infinite-dimensional almost Kahler manifolds which replace the complex projective spaces of standard quantum mechanics.
When we consider and analyze physical events with the purpose of creating corresponding mathematical models we often assume that the mathematical apparatus used in modeling, at least the simplest mathematical apparatus, is infallible. In particular, this relates to the use of infinitely small and infinitely large numbers in arithmetic and the use of Newton's definition of a limit in analysis. We believe that is where the main problem lies in contemporary study of nature (physics, genetics). We have introduced a new concept of “Observer's Mathematics—Mathematics of Relativity” (see references). Observer's mathematics creates new arithmetic, algebra, geometry, topology, analysis and logic which do not contain the concept of continuum, but locally coincide with the standard fields. The concept of a quantum arises automatically from the human thought process, rather than from physics. From this point of view classical mechanics is brought closer to quantum mechanics.
PROSPECTIVE The concern of this paper will be different from that of most studies of quantum gravity. There will be no discussion of the problem of quantizing the gravitational field equations, hence nothing about the modifications which quantization requires of space-time structure at distances of the order of the Planck length (∼ 10 −33 cm). The emphasis will be rather upon the implications of quantum mechanics for certain general properties of events and processes which occur in the theatre of space-time, specifically with non-locality and nonlinearity . Quantum mechanics is undoubtedly a non-local theory when it treats correlated spatially separated systems. When one examines closely the character of this non-locality, however, one does not find reasons for modifying the causal structure of space-time as described by special or general relativity theory, but rather reasons for refining the concept of an event. The occurrence of definite outcomes of measurements implies that there are processes in nature governed by nonlinear laws. Nonlinearity is very peculiar from the standpoint of quantum mechanics, since it is contrary to the linearity of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation, which is commonly assumed to govern the dynamics of any isolated physical system. Hence it is necessary to inquire whether a rational treatment of the occurrence of outcomes is possible without some modifications of current quantum mechanics. Whatever decision is reached on this question, however, it does not appear to bear directly on space-time structure, but rather on the general character of processes.
A central problem in modern mathematical physics is to study interacting systems beyond the reach of perturbation theory. This thesis studies interacting quantum systems using the mathematical theory of operator algebras. In the first part of this thesis, we consider how to construct quantum many-body systems from one-particle systems. This problem has a well-established solution - namely, the second quantization (or the Gaussian functor). However, it seems difficult for the second quantization to go beyond generalized free field constructions without the help of perturbation theory. The second quantization takes real Hilbert spaces as inputs. Using only information from one-particle Hilbert spaces, it is mathematically impossible for the second quantization to produce connected higher-point correlation functions. Moreover, from the perspectives of mathematical quantization and operator algebra theory, it is more natural to have a quantization procedure that takes an algebra along with a functional as the input. Such a pair of mathematical objects contains more information about the underlying one-particle system and includes the Hilbert space of states (via the GNS construction) as part of the data. Inspired by quantum probability theory, we introduce an alternative approach to construct quantum many-body systems. This approach is based on a noncommutative generalization of the classical Poisson random measure. We call this construction Poissonization. Mathematically, Poissonization is a functor from the category of von Neumann algebras with normal semi nite faithful weights to the category of von Neumann algebras with normal faithful states. It is a natural adaptation of the second quantization to the context of von Neumann algebras. This thesis discusses several properties of Poissonization, and uses Poissonization as a tool to construct various toy models of algebraic quantum field theories relevant to high energy physics. This collection of examples aims at demonstrating the versatility of Poissonization. In the second part of this thesis, we study the noisy interactions between an open quantum system and its environment. One of the challenges in quantum information science is to control open quantum systems with a large number of qubits. An important aspect of many-body systems is the emergence of collective phenomena. One collective noise model is an open atomic system in an electromagnetic environment. This model was considered by Dicke in the 50's. In this thesis, we study the entropic decay in Dicke's model and other related collective noise models. Specifically, we develop a general framework to estimate the spectral gap and modified logarithmic Sobolev constant of these collective noise models. In addition, we study the necessary mixing conditions a general Dicke's model must satisfy in order to have a unique equilibrium state.