Homotopies in Multiway (Non-Deterministic) Rewriting Systems as $n$-Fold Categories

TL;DR

This paper explores the algebraic and homotopical properties of multiway rewriting systems, showing they can be formalized as n-fold categories and potentially model homotopy spaces relevant to physics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel formalization of multiway rewriting systems as n-fold categories, linking them to homotopy theory and infinity-groupoids, with implications for physics models.

Findings

Existence of higher homotopies in multiway rewriting systems

Formalization of these systems as n-fold categories

Potential to model homotopy spaces relevant to physics

Abstract

We investigate algebraic and compositional properties of abstract multiway rewriting systems, which are archetypical structures underlying the formalism of the Wolfram model. We demonstrate the existence of higher homotopies in this class of rewriting systems, where homotopical maps are induced by the inclusion of appropriate rewriting rules taken from an abstract rulial space of all possible such rules. Furthermore, we show that a multiway rewriting system with homotopies up to order $n$ may naturally be formalized as an $n$-fold category, such that (upon inclusion of appropriate inverse morphisms via invertible rewriting relations) the infinite limit of this structure yields an ${\infty}$-groupoid. Via Grothendieck's homotopy hypothesis, this ${\infty}$-groupoid thus inherits the structure of a formal homotopy space. We conclude with some comments on how this computational framework of homotopical multiway systems may potentially be used for making formal connections to homotopy spaces upon which models relevant to physics may be instantiated.