Quantum Riemannian geometry of phase space and nonassociativity

TL;DR

This paper explores quantum Riemannian geometry on phase space, focusing on nonassociativity and quantization of classical structures, with detailed analysis on CP^n and implications for quantum twistor space.

Contribution

It introduces a canonical nonassociative differential calculus and quantizes metrics and connections at first order in deformation for specific quantum phase spaces.

Findings

Develops a nonassociative differential calculus on quantum phase space.

Quantizes metrics and Levi-Civita connections at first order in deformation.

Provides insights into compatibility conditions between Riemannian and Poisson structures.

Abstract

Noncommutative or `quantum' differential geometry has emerged in recent years as a process for quantizing not only a classical space into a noncommutative algebra (as familiar in quantum mechanics) but also differential forms, bundles and Riemannian structures at this level. The data for the algebra quantisation is a classical Poisson bracket, the data for the quantum differential forms is a Poisson-compatible connection it was recently shown that after this, classical data such as classical bundles, metrics etc. all become quantised in a canonical `functorial' way at least to 1st order in deformation theory. There are, however, fresh compatibility conditions between the classical Riemannian and the Poisson structures as well as new physics such as nonassociativity at 2nd order. We give an introduction to this theory and some details for the case of CP${}^n$ where the commutation relations have the canonical form $[w^i,\bar w^j]=\mathrm{i}\lambda\delta_{ij}$ similar to the proposal of Penrose for quantum twistor space. Our work provides a canonical but ultimately nonassociative differential calculus on this algebra and quantises the metric and Levi-Civita connection at lowest order in $\lambda$.