Room P4.35, Mathematics Building

Louis H. Kauffman, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago
Non-Commutative Worlds and Classical Constraints

This talk shows how discrete measurement leads to commutators and how discrete derivatives are naturally represented by commutators in a non-commutative extension of the calculus in which they originally occurred. We show how the square root of minus one (i) arises naturally as a time-sensitive observable for an elementary oscillator. In this sense the square root of minus one is a clock and/or a clock/observer. This sheds new light on Wick rotation, which replaces t (temporal quantity) by it. In this view, the Wick rotation replaces numerical time with elementary temporal observation. The relationship of this remark with the Heisenberg commutator [P,Q]=i is explained. We discuss iterants - a generalization of the complex numbers as described above. This generalization includes all of matrix algebra in a temporal interpretation. We then give a generalization of the Feynman-Dyson derivation of electromagnetism in the context of non-commutative worlds. This generalization depends upon the definitions of derivatives via commutators and upon the way the non-commutative calculus mimics standard calculus. We examine constraints that link standard and non-commutative calculus and show how asking for these constraints to be satisfied leads to some possibly new physics.
Note also another seminar session by the same speaker on Friday 30th November