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International Journal of General Systems

A sheaf-theoretic topos model of the physical ‘Continuum’ and its cohomological observable dynamics

Elias Zafiris

Published May 12, 2008• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The physical ‘continuum’ is being modelled as a complex of events interconnected by the relation of extension and forming an abstract partially ordered structure. Operational physical procedures for discerning observable events assume their existence and validity locally, by coordinatising the informational content of those observable events in terms of real-valued local observables. The localisation process is effectuated in terms of topological covering systems on the events ‘continuum’, that do not presuppose an underlying structure of points on the real line and, moreover, respect only the fundamental relation of extension between events. In this sense, the physical ‘continuum’ is represented by means of a fibred topos-theoretic structure, modelled as a sheaf of algebras of continuous real-valued functions. Finally, the dynamics of information propagation, formulated in terms of continuous real-valued observables, is described in the context of an appropriate sheaf-cohomological framework corresponding to the localisation process.

DOI
10.1080/03081070701819285

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The physical ‘continuum’ is being modelled as a complex of events interconnected by the relation of extension and forming an abstract partially ordered structure. Operational physical procedures for discerning observable events assume their existence and validity locally, by coordinatising the informational content of those observable events in terms of real-valued local observables. The localisation process is effectuated in terms of topological covering systems on the events ‘continuum’, that do not presuppose an underlying structure of points on the real line and, moreover, respect only the fundamental relation of extension between events. In this sense, the physical ‘continuum’ is represented by means of a fibred topos-theoretic structure, modelled as a sheaf of algebras of continuous real-valued functions. Finally, the dynamics of information propagation, formulated in terms of continuous real-valued observables, is described in the context of an appropriate sheaf-cohomological framework corresponding to the localisation process.
We propose a sheaf-theoretic framework for the representation of a quantum observable structure in terms of Boolean information sieves. The algebraic representation of a quantum observable structure in the relational local terms of sheaf theory effectuates a semantic transition from the axiomatic set-theoretic context of orthocomplemented partially ordered sets, la Birkhoff and Von Neumann, to the categorical topos-theoretic context of Boolean information sieves, la Grothendieck. The representation schema is based on the existence of a categorical adjunction, which is used as a theoretical platform for the development of a functorial formulation of information transfer, between quantum observables and Boolean localisation devices in typical quantum measurement situations. We also establish precise criteria of integrability and invariance of quantum information transfer by cohomological means.
We construct a sheaf-theoretic representation of quantum observables algebras over a base category equipped with a Grothendieck topology, consisting of epimorphic families of commutative observables algebras, playing the role of local arithmetics in measurement situations. This construction makes possible the adaptation of the methodology of Abstract Differential Geometry (ADG), a la Mallios, in a topos-theoretic environment, and hence, the extension of the "mechanism of differentials" in the quantum regime. The process of gluing information, within diagrams of commutative algebraic localizations, generates dynamics, involving the transition from the classical to the quantum regime, formulated cohomologically in terms of a functorial quantum connection, and subsequently, detected via the associated curvature of that connection.
An observable effects a schematization of the Quantum event structure by correlating Boolean algebras picked by measurements with the Borel algebra of the real line. In a well-defined sense Boolean observables play the role of coordinatizing objects in the Quantum world, by picking Boolean figures and subsequently opening Boolean windows for the perception of the latter, interpreted as local measurement charts. A mathematical scheme for the implementation of this thesis is being proposed based on Category theoretical methods. The scheme leads to a manifold representation of Quantum structure in terms of topos-theoretical Boolean reference frames. The coordinatizing objects give rise to structure preserving maps with the modeling objects as their domains, effecting finally an isomorphism between quantum event algebra objects and Boolean localization systems for the masurement of observables.
We propose a framework in which physical law arises as an approximation to continuous causality. Instead of assuming that causal relations form a discrete set of events, we posit that between any two events there exists an uncountable, densely ordered continuum of intermediate causal connections. This continuous causal fabric replaces the conventional notion of spacetime points with a real-valued ordering structure, inwhich each event is a limiting boundary of infinitely many causal intermediates. The mathematical laws of physics then emerge as effective descriptions of the averaged behavior along such continuous causal chains. Within this framework, geometry and dynamics are interpreted as statistical projections of an underlying causal continuum endowed with a measure and local kernel of influence.
Homologous operational localization processes are effectuated in terms of generalized topological covering systems on structures of physical events. We study localization systems of quantum events' structures by means of Gtothendieck topologies on the base category of Boolean events' algebras. We show that a quantum events algebra is represented by means of a Grothendieck sheaf-theoretic fibred structure, with respect to the global partial order of quantum events' fibres over the base category of local Boolean frames.
We provide a unified operational framework for the study of causality, non-locality and contextuality, in a fully device-independent and theory-independent setting. Our work has its roots in the sheaf-theoretic framework for contextuality by Abramsky and Brandenburger, which it extends to include arbitrary causal orders (be they definite, dynamical or indefinite). We define a notion of causal function for arbitrary spaces of input histories, and we show that the explicit imposition of causal constraints on joint outputs is equivalent to the free assignment of local outputs to the tip events of input histories. We prove factorisation results for causal functions over parallel, sequential, and conditional sequential compositions of the underlying spaces. We prove that causality is equivalent to continuity with respect to the lowerset topology on the underlying spaces, and we show that partial causal functions defined on open sub-spaces can be bundled into a presheaf. In a striking departure from the Abramsky-Brandenburger setting, however, we show that causal functions fail, under certain circumstances, to form a sheaf. We define empirical models as compatible families in the presheaf of probability distributions on causal functions, for arbitrary open covers of the underlying space of input histories. We show the existence of causally-induced contextuality, a phenomenon arising when the causal constraints themselves become context-dependent, and we prove a no-go result for non-locality on total orders, both static and dynamical.