2003/06/30 by Robert Oeckl · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #gr-qc #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.08.043
published as Phys.Lett. B575 (2003) 318-324 · 5 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX + revtex4 + eps; abstract shortened, other minor corrections, references updated
arxiv created 2003/10/16 · openalex publication_date 2003/10/18 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
I propose to formalize quantum theories as topological quantum field theories in a generalized sense, associating state spaces with boundaries of arbitrary (and possibly finite) regions of space–time. I further propose to obtain such “general boundary” quantum theories through a generalized path integral quantization. I show how both, non-relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory can be given a “general boundary” formulation. Surprisingly, even in the non-relativistic case, features normally associated with quantum field theory emerge from consistency conditions. This includes states with arbitrary particle number and pair creation. I also note how three-dimensional quantum gravity is an example for a realization of both proposals and suggest to apply them to four-dimensional quantum gravity.