Entanglement of Sections: The pushout of entangled and parameterized quantum information

TL;DR

This paper constructs a mathematical framework unifying quantum entanglement and parameterized quantum information via a pushout in monoidal category theory, revealing new insights into topological phases of matter.

Contribution

It formalizes a pushout diagram in monoidal category theory and computes it to connect quantum entanglement with vector bundle K-theory, especially in flat bundles with Berry phases.

Findings

Computed the pushout as the external tensor product on flat vector bundles.

Linked the pushout construction to topological phases of matter.

Highlighted the relevance of the external tensor product in quantum theory.

Abstract

A question raised by Freedman & Hastings (2023) still stands: To produce a mathematical theory that would unify quantum entanglement/tensor-structure with parameterized/bundle-structure via their amalgamation (a hypothetical pushout) along bare quantum (information) theory -- a question motivated by the role that vector bundles of spaces of quantum states play in the K-theoretic classification of topological phases of matter. Here we produce a possible answer to this question. To that end, first we make precise a form of the relevant pushout diagram in monoidal category theory. With the question thus formalized, we proceed to compute this pushout and prove that it gives what is known as the external tensor product on vector bundles/K-classes, or rather on flat such bundles (flat K-theory), i.e., those equipped with monodromy encoding topological Berry phases. The external tensor product was recently highlighted in the context of topological phases of matter and through our work in quantum programming theory but has not otherwise found due attention in quantum theory yet.