Quantum criticality from different perspectives
Quantum criticality is however much more general notion, and one must ask how this view relates to the earlier picture.
- At the real number side continuous coupling constant evolution makes sense. What does this mean? Can one say that quantum criticality makes possible only adelic physics together with large heff/h0=n as dimension for extension of rationals. This hierarchy is essential for life and cognition.
Can one conclude that living systems correspond to quantum critical values of S(S2) and therefore αK and in-animate systems correspond to other values of αK? But wouldn't his mean that one gives up the original vision that αK is analogous to critical temperature. The whole point was that this would make physics unique?
From mathematical view point also continuous αK can make sense. αK can be continuous if it corresponds to a higher-dimensional critical manifold at which two or more preferred extremals associated with the same parameter values co-incide - roots of polynomial P(x,a,b) depending on parameters a,b serves as the canonical example. The degree of quantum criticality would vary and there would be a hierarchy of critical systems characterized by the dimension of the critical manifold. One would have a full analog of statistical physics. For mathematician this is the only convincing interpretation.
2-D cusp catastrophe serves as a basic example helping to generalize. Cusp corresponds to the roots of dP4/dx=0 of third order polynomial P4(x,a,b), where (a,b) are control variables. The projection of region with 3 real roots to (a,b)-plane is bounded by critical lines forming a roughly V-shaped structure. d2P4/dx2 vanishes at the edges of V, where two roots co-incide and d3P4/dx3 vanishes at the tip of V, where 3 roots co-incide.
- A hierarchy of quantum criticalities has been actually assumed. The hierarchy of representations for super-symplectic algebra realizing 4-D analog of super-conformal symmetries allows an infinite hierarchy of representations for which infinite-D sub-algebra isomorphic to a full algebra and its commutator with the full algebra annihilate physical states. Also classical Noether charges vanish. What is new is that conformal weights are non-negative integers. The effective dimensions of these systems are finite - at least in the sense that one one has finite-D Lie algebra (or its quantum counterpart) or corresponding Kac-Moody algebra as symmetries. This realization of quantum criticality generalize the idea that conformal symmetry accompanies 2-D criticality.
This picture conforms also with the vision about hierarchy of hyper-finite-factors with included hyper-finite factor defining measurement resolution. Hyper-finiteness indeed means finite-dimensionality in excellent approximation.
It is good to look more precisely how the catastrophe theoretic setting generalizes to TGD.
- The value of the twistor lift of Kähler action defining Kähler function very probably corresponds to a maximum of Kähler function since otherwise metric defined by the second derivatives could have non-Euclidian signature. One cannot however exclude the possibility that in complex WCW coordinates the (1,1) restriction of the matrix defined by the second derivatives of Kähler function could be positive definite also for other than minima.
It would seem that one cannot accept several roots for given zero modes since one cannot have maximum of Kähler function for all of them. This would allow only the the boundary of catastrophe region in which 2 or more roots co-incide. Positive definiteness of WCW metric would force quantum criticality.
For given values of zero modes there would be single minimum and together with the cancellation of Gaussian and metric determinants this makes perturbation theory extremely simple since exponents of vacuum functional would cancel.
- There is an infinite number of zero modes playing the role of control variables since the value of the induce Kähler form is symplectic invariant and there are also other symplectic invariants associated with the M4 degrees of freedom (carrying also the analog of Kähler form for the twistor lift of TGD and giving rise to CP breaking). One would have catastrophe theory with infinite number of control variables so that the number of catastrophes would be infinite so that standard catastrophe theory does not as such apply.
- Therefore TGD would not be only a personal professional catastrophe but a catastrophe in much deeper sense. WCW would be a catastrophe surface for the functional gradient of the action defining Kähler function. WCW would consists of regions in which given zero modes would correspond to several minima. The region of zero mode space at which some roots identifiable as space-time surfaces co-incide would be analogous to the V-shaped cusp catastrophe and its higher-D generalizations. The question is whether one allows the entire catastrophe surface or whether one demands quantum criticality in the sense that only the union of singular sets at which roots co-incide is included.
- For WCW as catastrophe surface the analog of V in the space of zero modes would correspond to a hierarchy of sub-WCWs consisting of preferred extremals satisfying the gauge conditions associated with a sub-algebra of supersymplectic algebra isomorphic to the full algebra. The sub-WCWs in the hierarchy of sub-WCWs within sub-WCWs would satisfy increasingly stronger gauge conditions and having decreasing dimension just like in the case of ordinary catastrophe. The lower the effective dimension, the higher the quantum criticality.
- In ordinary catastrophe theory the effective number of behavior variables for given catastrophe can be reduced to some minimum number. In TGD framework this would correspond to the reduction of super-symplectic algebra to a finite-D Lie algebra or corresponding Kac-Moody (half-)algebra as modes of supersymplectic algebra with generators labelled by non-negative integer n modulo given integer m are eliminated as dynamical degrees of freedom by the gauge conditions: this would effectively leave only the modes smaller than m. The fractal hierarchy of these supersymplectic algebras would correspond to the decomposition of WCW as a catastrophe surface to pieces with varying dimension. The reduction of the effective dimension as two sheets of the catastrophe surface co-incide would mean transformation of some modes contributing to metric to zero modes.
One can consider coupling constant evolution and RG invariance from a new perspective based on the minimal surface property.
- The critical values of Kähler coupling strength would correspond to quantum criticality of the S2 part S(S2) of 6-D dimensionally reduced Kähler action for fixed values of zero modes. The relative S2 rotation would serve as behavior variable. For its critical values the dimension of the critical manifold would be reduced, and keeping zero modes fixed a critical value of αK would be selected from 1-D continuum.
Quantum criticality condition might be fundamental since it implies the constancy of the value of the twistor lift of Kähler action for the space-time surfaces contributing to the scattering amplitudes. This would be crucial for number theoretical vision since the continuation of exponential to p-adic sectors is not possible in the generic case. One should however develop stronger arguments to exclude the continuous evolution of Kähler coupling strength in S2 degrees of freedom for the real sector of the theory.
- The extremals of twistor lift contain dependence on the rotation parameter for S2 and this must be taken into account in coupling constant evolution along curve of S2 connecting zeros of zeta since Kähler and volume term change with it. This can give an additional non-local term to the evolution equations coming from the dependence of the imbedding space coordinates of the preferred extremal on the evolution parameter. The derivative of the 6-D Kähler action is sum of two terms. The first term involves derivatives of αK and of S(S2). Second term is sum of terms involving derivations of Kähler action and volume with respect to the evolution parameter. This is by chain rule proportional to the functional derivatives of total action with respect to imbedding space coordinates, and vanishes by field equations. It does not matter whether there is coupling between Kähler action and volume term.
- Quantum TGD can be seen as a "complex" square root of thermodynamics. In thermodynamics one can define several thermodynamical functions. In particular, one can add to energy E as term pV to get enthalpy H= E+pV, which remains constant when entropy and pressures are kept constant. Could one do the same now?
In TGD V replaced with volume action and p would be a coupling parameter analogous to pressure. The simplest replacement would give Kähler action as outcome. The replacement would allow RG invariance of the modified action only at critical points so that replacement would be possible only there. Furthermore, field equations must hold true separately for Kähler action and volume term everywhere.
- The coupling between Kähler action and volume term could be non-trivial at singular sub-manifolds, where a transfer of conserved quantities between the two degrees of freedom would take place. The transfer would be proportional to the divergence of the canonical momentum current Dα(gαβ∂βhk) assignable to the minimal surface and is conserved outside the singular sub-manifolds.
Minimal surfaces provide a non-linear generalization of massless wave-equation for which the gradient of the field equals to conserved current. Therefore the interpretation could be that these singular manifolds are sources of the analogs of fields defined by M4 and CP2 coordinates.
In electrodynamics these singular manifolds would represented by charged particles. The simplest interpretation would be in terms of point like charges so that one would have line singularity. The natural identification of world line singularities would be as boundaries of string world sheets at the 3-D light-like partonic orbits between Minkowskian and Euclidian regions having induced 4-metric degenerating to 3-D metric would be a natural identification. These world lines indeed appear in twistor diagrams. Also string world sheets must be assumed and they are are natural candidates for the singular manifolds serving as sources of charges in 4-D context. Induced spinor fields would serve as a representation for these sources. These strings would generalize the notion of point like particle. Particles as 3-surfaces would be connected by flux tubes to a tensor network and string world sheets would connected fermion lines at the partonic 2-surfaces to an analogous network. This would be new from the standard model perspective.
Singularities could also correspond to a discrete set of points having an interpretation as cognitive representation for the loci of initial and final states fermions at opposite boundaries of CD and at vertices represented topologically by partonic 2-surfaces at which partonic orbits meet. This interpretation makes sense if one interprets the imbedding space coordinates as analogs of propagators having delta singularities at these points. It is quite possible that also these contributions are present: one would have a hierarchy of delta function singularities associated with string worlds sheets, their boundaries and the ends of the boundaries at boundaries of CD, where string world sheet has edges.
- There is also an interpretation of singularities suggested by the generalization of conformal invariance. String world sheets would be co-dimension 2 singularites analogous to poles of analytic function of two complex coordinates in 4-D complex space. String world sheets would be co-dimension 2 singularities analogous to poles at light-like 3-surfaces. The ends of the world lines could be analogous of poles of analytic function at partonic 2-surfaces.
These singularities could provide to evolution equations what might be called matter contribution. This brings in mind evolution equations for n-point functions in QFT. The resolution of the overall singularity would decompose to 2-D, 1-D and 0-D parts just like cusp catastrophe. One can ask whether the singularities might allow interpretation as catastrophes.
- The proposal for the analogs of thermodynamical functions suggests the following physical picture. More general thermodynamical functions are possible only at critical points and only if the extremals are miminal surfaces. The singularities should correspond to physical particles, fermions. Suppose that one considers entire scattering amplitude involving action exponential plus possible analog of pV term plus the terms associated with the fermions assigned with the singularities. Suppose that the coupling constant evolution from 6-D Kähler action is calculated without including the contribution of the singularities.
The derivative of n-particle amplitude with respect to the evolution parameter contains a term coming from the action exponential receiving contributions only from the singularities and a term coming from the operators at singularities. RG invariance of the scattering amplitude would require that the two terms sum up to zero. In the thermodynamical picture the presence of particles in many particle scattering amplitude would force to add the analog of pressure term to the Kähler function: it would be determined by the zero energy state.
One can of course ask how general terms can be added by requiring minimal surface property. Minimal surface property reduces to holomorphy, and can be true also for other kinds of actions such as the TGD analogs of electroweak and color actions that I considered originally as possible action candidates.
This would have interpretation as an analog for YM equations in gauge theories. Space-time singularities as local failure of minimal surface property would correspond to sources for H coordinates as analogs of Maxwell's fields and sources currents would correspond to fermions currents.
For a summary of earlier postings see Latest progress in TGD.
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