Inspired by the recast of the quantum mechanics in a toposical framework, we develop a contextual quantum mechanics via the geometric mathematics to propose a quantum contextuality adaptable in every topos. \nThe contextuality adopted corresponds to the belief that the quantum world must only be seen from the classical viewpoints à la Bohr consequently putting forth the notion of a context, while retaining a realist understanding. Mathematically, the cardinal object is a spectral Stone bundle Σ → B (between stably-compact locales) permitting a treatment of the kinematics, fibre by fibre and fully point-free. In leading naturally to a new notion of points, the geometricity permits to understand those of the base space B as the contexts C — the commutative C*–algebras of a incommutative C*–algebras — and those of the spectral locale Σ as the couples (C, ψ), with ψ a state of the system from the perspective of such a C. The contexts are furnished with a natural order, the aggregation order which is installed as the specialization on B and Σ thanks to (one part of) the Priestley's duality adapted geometrically as well as to the effectuality of the lax descent of the Stone bundles along the perfect maps.
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 A. According to the constructive Gelfand duality theorem of Banaschewski and Mulvey, the latter has an internal spectrum Σ(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
This paper introduces the Quantum Contextual Topos (QCT), a novel framework that extends traditional quantum logic by embedding contextual elements within a topos-theoretic structure. This framework seeks to provide a classically-obedient tool for exploring the logical foundations of quantum mechanics. The QCT framework aims to address the limitations of classical quantum logic, particularly its challenges in capturing the dynamic and contextual nature of quantum phenomena. By integrating modal operators and classical propositional logic within a topos structure, the QCT offers a unified approach to modeling quantum systems. The main result of this work is demonstrating that the internal logic of QCT corresponds to a form of classical propositional polymodal logic. We do this by generalizing Stone's Representation Theorem for a specific case of polymodal algebras and their underlying Stone Spaces.
Observable properties of a classical physical system can be modelled deterministically as functions from the space of pure states to outcome values; dually, states can be modelled as functions from the algebra of observables to outcome values. The probabilistic predictions of quantum physics are contextual in that they preclude this classical assumption of reality: noncommuting observables, which are not assumed to be jointly measurable, cannot be consistently ascribed deterministic values even if one enriches the description of a quantum state. Here, we consider the geometrically dual objects of noncommutative operator algebras of observables as being generalisations of classical (deterministic) state spaces to the quantum setting and argue that these generalised state spaces represent the objects of study of noncommutative operator geometry. By adapting the spectral presheaf of Hamilton–Isham–Butterfield, a formulation of quantum state space that collates contextual data, we reconstruct tools of noncommutative geometry in an explicitly geometric fashion. In this way, we bridge the foundations of quantum mechanics with the foundations of noncommutative geometry à la Connes et al. To each unital C*- algebra
A we associate a geometric object—a diagram of topological spaces collating quotient spaces of the noncommutative space underlying
A —that performs the role of a generalised Gel'fand spectrum. We show how any functor F from compact Hausdorff spaces to a suitable target category
C can be applied directly to these geometric objects to automatically yield an extension
F~ acting on all unital C*-algebras. This procedure is used to give a novel formulation of the operator K0-functor via a finitary variant
K~f of the extension
K~ of the topological K-functor. We then delineate a C*-algebraic conjecture that the extension of the functor that assigns to a topological space its lattice of open sets assigns to a unital C*-algebra the Zariski topological lattice of its primitive ideal spectrum, i.e. its lattice of closed two-sided ideals. We prove the von Neumann algebraic analogue of this conjecture.
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 noncommutative 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
A . According to the constructive Gelfand duality theorem of Banaschewski and Mulvey, the latter has an internal spectrum
Σ(A) in
T(A) , which in our approach plays the role of the 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
Σ , and self-adjoint elements of A define continuous functions (more precisely, locale maps) from
Σ to Scott’s interval domain. Noting that open subsets of
Σ(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) .These results were inspired by the topos-theoretic approach to quantum physics proposed by Butterfield and Isham, as recently generalized by Döring and Isham.
The origin and basis of the notion of quantum contextuality is identified in the Copenhagen approach to quantum mechanics, where context is automatically invoked by its requirement that the experimental arrangement involved in any measurements or set of measurements be taken into account while, in general, the outcome of a measurement may depend on other measurements immediately preceding or jointly performed on the same system. For Bohr, the specification of the experimental situation of any measurement is essential to its significance in light of complementarity and the omnipresence of the quantum of action in physics; for Heisenberg, the incompatibility of pairs of sharp measurements belonging to different situations coheres with both the completeness of the quantum state as an objective physical description and the principle of indeterminacy. Here, context in the Copenhagen approach is taken to be the equivalence class of experimental arrangements corresponding to a set of compatible measurements of quantum observables in standard quantum mechanics; the associated form of contextuality in quantum mechanics arises via the non-commutativity in general of sharp observables, proven by von Neumann, that can appear, providing different contexts. This notion is related to theoretical situations explored later by Bell, by Kochen and Specker, and by others in relation to the classification of hidden-variables theories and elsewhere in physics. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Contextuality and probability in quantum mechanics and beyond’.
We propose a novel mathematical framework, rooted in fiber bundle theory, to quantify the phenomenon of quantum contextuality—a fundamental aspect of quantum entanglement. To demonstrate its utility, we first apply the formalism to quantum models in the foundations of quantum physics that both capture and differentiate varying strengths of contextuality. By revealing the intrinsic geometric structure of contextuality, the framework establishes a direct link to its computational foundations, facilitating the formulation of a topology-based model of computation that encapsulates the semantics inherent to contextuality. The framework delivers a rigorous and potentially more profound mathematical characterization of quantum contextuality, while offering new modeling methodologies for quantum cognition.