This paper is the first in a series whose goal is to develop a fundamentally new way of constructing theories of physics. The motivation comes from a desire to address certain deep issues that arise when contemplating quantum theories of space and time. Our basic contention is that constructing a theory of physics is equivalent to finding a representation in a topos of a certain formal language that is attached to the system. Classical physics arises when the topos is the category of sets. Other types of theory employ a different topos. In this paper we discuss two different types of language that can be attached to a system, S. The first is a propositional language, PL(S); the second is a higher-order, typed language L(S). Both languages provide deductive systems with an intuitionistic logic. The reason for introducing PL(S) is that, as shown in paper II of the series, it is the easiest way of understanding, and expanding on, the earlier work on topos theory and quantum physics. However, the main thrust of our programme utilises the more powerful language L(S) and its representation in an appropriate topos.

This paper is the second in a series whose goal is to develop a fundamentally new way of constructing theories of physics. The motivation comes from a desire to address certain deep issues that arise when contemplating quantum theories of space and time. Our basic contention is that constructing a theory of physics is equivalent to finding a representation in a topos of a certain formal language that is attached to the system. Classical physics arises when the topos is the category of sets. Other types of theory employ a different topos. In this paper, we study in depth the topos representation of the propositional language, PL(S), for the case of quantum theory. In doing so, we make a direct link with, and clarify, the earlier work on applying topos theory to quantum physics. The key step is a process we term ‘daseinisation ’ by which a projection operator is mapped to a sub-object of the spectral presheaf—the topos quantum analogue of a classical state space. In the second part of the paper we change gear with the introduction of the more sophisticated local language L(S). From this point forward, throughout the rest of the series of papers, our attention will be devoted almost entirely to this language. In the present paper, we use L(S) to study ‘truth objects ’ in the topos. These are objects in the topos that play the role of states: a necessary development as the spectral presheaf has no global elements, and hence there are no microstates in the sense of classical physics. Truth objects therefore play a crucial role in our formalism.

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 �(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 �, and self-adjoint elements of A define continuous functions (more precisely, locale maps) from � to Scott’s interval domain. Noting that open subsets of �(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.

Abstract. We give a constructive and exhaustive definition of Kochen-Specker (KS) vectors in a Hilbert space of any dimension as well as of all the remaining vectors of the space. KS vectors are elements of any set of orthonormal states, i.e., vectors in n-dim Hilbert space, H n, n ≥ 3 to which it is impossible to assign 1s and 0s in such a way that no two mutually orthogonal vectors from the set are both assigned 1 and that not all mutually orthogonal vectors are assigned 0. Our constructive definition of such KS vectors is based on algorithms that generate MMP diagrams corresponding to blocks of orthogonal vectors in R n, on algorithms that single out those diagrams on which algebraic 0-1 states cannot be defined, and on algorithms that solve nonlinear equations describing the orthogonalities of the vectors by means of statistically polynomially complex interval analysis and self-teaching programs. The algorithms are limited neither by the number of dimensions nor by the number of vectors. To demonstrate the power of the algorithms, all 4-dim KS vector systems containing up to 24 vectors were generated and described, all 3-dim vector systems containing up to 30 vectors were scanned, and several general properties of KS vectors were found.

A preliminary investigation is made of possible applications in quantum theory of the topos formed by the collection of all M-sets, where M is a monoid. Earlier results on topos aspects of quantum theory can be rederived in this way. However, the formalism also suggests a new way of constructing a ‘neo-realist’ interpretation of quantum theory in which the truth values of propositions are determined by the actions of the monoid of strings of finite projection operators. By these means, a novel topos perspective is gained on the concept of state-vector reduction. 1

first steps in infinite-dimensional

The aim of the paper is to derive essential elements of quantum mechanics from a parametric structure extending that of traditional mathematical statistics. The main extensions, which also can be motivated from an applied statistics point of view, relate to symmetry, the choice between complementary experiments and hence complementary parametric models, and use of the fact that there for simple systems always is a limited experimental basis that is common to all potential experiments. Concepts related to transformation groups together with the statistical concept of sufficiency are used in the construction of the quantummechanical Hilbert space. The Born formula is motivated through recent analysis by Deutsch and Gill, and is shown to imply the formulae of elementary quantum probability / quantum inference theory in the simple case. Planck’s constant, and the Schrödinger equation are also derived from this conceptual framework. The theory is illustrated by one and

A decade ago, Isham and Butterfield proposed a topos-theoretic approach to quantum mechanics, which meanwhile has been extended by Döring and Isham so as to provide a new mathematical foundation for all of physics. Last year, three of the present authors redeveloped and refined these ideas by combining the C*-algebraic approach to quantum theory with the so-called internal language of topos theory (see arXiv:0709.4364). The goal of the present paper is to illustrate our abstract setup through the concrete example of the C*-algebra Mn(C) of complex n × n matrices. This leads to an explicit expression for the pointfree quantum phase space Σn and the associated logical structure and Gelfand transform of an n-level system. We also determine the pertinent non-probabilisitic state-proposition pairing (or valuation) and give a very natural topos-theoretic reformulation of the Kochen–Specker Theorem. In our approach, the nondistributive lattice P(Mn(C)) of projections in Mn(C) (which forms the basis of the traditional quantum logic of Birkhoff and von Neumann) is replaced by a specific distributive lattice O(Σn) of functions from the poset C(Mn(C))

A novel Algebraic Topology approach to Supersymmetry (SUSY) and Symmetry Breaking in Quantum Field and Quantum Gravity theories is presented with a view to developing a wide range of physical applications. These include: controlled nuclear fusion and other nuclear reaction studies in quantum chromodynamics, nonlinear physics at high energy densities, dynamic Jahn-Teller effects, superfluidity, high temperature superconductors, multiple scattering by molecular systems, molecular or atomic paracrystal structures, nanomaterials, ferromagnetism in glassy materials, spin glasses, quantum phase transitions and supergravity. This approach requires a unified conceptual framework that utilizes extended symmetries and quantum groupoid, algebroid and functorial representations of non–Abelian higher dimensional structures pertinent to quantized spacetime topology and state space geometry of quantum operator algebras. Fourier transforms, generalized Fourier–Stieltjes transforms, and duality relations link, respectively, the quantum groups and quantum groupoids with their dual algebraic structures; quantum double constructions are also discussed in this context in relation to quasitriangular, quasiHopf algebras, bialgebroids, Grassmann-Hopf algebras and Higher Dimensional Algebra. On the one hand, this quantum

A number of landmark results in the foundations of quantum mechanics show that quantum systems exhibit behaviour that defies explanation in classical terms, and that cannot be accounted for in such terms even by postulating “hidden variables” as additional unobserved factors. Much has been written on these matters, but there is surprisingly little unanimity even on basic definitions or the inter-relationships among the various concepts and results. We use the mathematical language of sheaves and monads to give a very general and mathematically robust description of the behaviour of systems in which one or more measurements can be selected, and one or more outcomes observed. We say that an empirical model is extendable if it can be extended consistently to all sets of measurements, regardless of compatibility. A hidden-variable model is factorizable if, for each value of the hidden variable, it factors as a product of distributions on the basic measurements. We prove that an empirical model is extendable if and only if there is a factorizable hidden-variable model which realizes it. From this we are able to prove generalized versions of well-known No-Go theorems. At the conceptual level, our equivalence result says that the existence of incompatible measurements is the essential ingredient in non-local and contextual behavior in quantum mechanics.