Thesis (MSc (Physics))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Non-commutative quantum mechanics is a generalisation of quantum mechanics which incorporates the notion of a fundamental shortest length scale by introducing non-commuting position coordinates. Various theories of quantum gravity indicate the existence of such a shortest length scale in nature. It has furthermore been realised that certain condensed matter systems allow effective descriptions in terms of non-commuting coordinates. As a result, non-commutative quantum mechanics has received increasing attention recently. A consistent formulation and interpretation of non-commutative quantum mechanics, which unambiguously defines position measurement within the existing framework of quantum mechanics, was recently presented by Scholtz et al. This thesis builds on the latter formalism, extends it to many-particle systems and links it up with non-commutative quantum field theory via second quantisation. It is shown that interactions of particles, among themselves and with external potentials, are altered as a result of the fuzziness induced by non-commutativity. For potential scattering, generic increases are found for the differential and total scattering cross sections. Furthermore, the recovery of a scattering potential from scattering data is shown to involve a suppression of high energy contributions, disallowing divergent interaction forces. Likewise, the effective statistical interaction among fermions and bosons is modified, leading to an apparent violation of Pauli’s exclusion principle and foretelling implications for thermodynamics at high densities. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nie-kommutatiewe kwantummeganika is ’n veralgemening van kwantummeganika wat die idee van ’n fundamentele kortste lengteskaal invoer d.m.v. nie-kommuterende ko¨ordinate. Verskeie teorie¨e van kwantum-grawitasie dui op die bestaan van so ’n kortste lengteskaal in die natuur. Dit is verder uitgewys dat sekere gekondenseerde materie sisteme effektiewe beskrywings in terme van nie-kommuterende koordinate toelaat. Gevolglik het die veld van nie-kommutatiewe kwantummeganika onlangs toenemende aandag geniet. ’n Konsistente formulering en interpretasie van nie-kommutatiewe kwantummeganika, wat posisiemetings eenduidig binne bestaande kwantummeganika raamwerke defineer, is onlangs voorgestel deur Scholtz et al. Hierdie tesis brei uit op hierdie formalisme, veralgemeen dit tot veeldeeltjiesisteme en koppel dit aan nie-kommutatiewe kwantumveldeteorie d.m.v. tweede kwantisering. Daar word gewys dat interaksies tussen deeltjies en met eksterne potensiale verander word as gevolg van nie-kommutatiwiteit. Vir potensiale verstrooi ¨ıng verskyn generiese toenames vir die differensi¨ele and totale verstroi¨ıngskanvlak. Verder word gewys dat die herkonstruksie van ’n verstrooi¨ıngspotensiaal vanaf verstrooi¨ıngsdata ’n onderdrukking van ho¨e-energiebydrae behels, wat divergente interaksiekragte verbied. Soortgelyk word die effektiewe statistiese interaksie tussen fermione en bosone verander, wat ly tot ’n skynbare verbreking van Pauli se uitsluitingsbeginsel en dui op verdere gevolge vir termodinamika by ho¨e digthede.

This thesis concerns the use of perverse sheaves with coefficients in commutative rings and in particular, fields of positive characteristic, in the study of modular representation theory. We begin by giving a new geometric interpretation of classical connections between the representation theory of the general linear groups and symmetric groups. We then survey work, joint with D. Juteau and G. Williamson, in which we construct a class of objects, called parity sheaves. These objects share many properties with the intersection cohomology complexes in characteristic zero, including a decomposition theorem and a close relation to representation theory. The final part of this document consists of two computations of IC stalks in the nilpotent cones of sl₃and sl₄. These computations build upon our calculations in sections 3.5 and 3.6 of (31), but utilize slightly more sophisticated techniques and allow us to compute the stalks in the remaining characteristics. / text

The objects of study in this thesis are automorphism groups of free and right-angled Artin groups. Right-angled Artin groups are defined by a presentation where the only relations are commutators of the generating elements. When there are no relations the right-angled-Artin group is a free group and if we take all possible relations we have a free abelian group. We show that if no finite index subgroup of a group $G$ contains a normal subgroup that maps onto $mathbb{Z}$, then every homomorphism from $G$ to the outer automorphism group of a free group has finite image. The above criterion is satisfied by SL$_m(mathbb{Z})$ for $m geq 3$ and, more generally, all irreducible lattices in higher-rank, semisimple Lie groups with finite centre. Given a right-angled Artin group $A_Gamma$ we find an integer $n$, which may be easily read off from the presentation of $A_G$, such that if $m geq 3$ then SL$_m(mathbb{Z})$ is a subgroup of the outer automorphism group of $A_Gamma$ if and only if $m leq n$. More generally, we find criteria to prevent a group from having a homomorphism to the outer automorphism group of $A_Gamma$ with infinite image, and apply this to a large number of irreducible lattices as above. We study the subgroup $IA(A_Gamma)$ of $Aut(A_Gamma)$ that acts trivially on the abelianisation of $A_Gamma$. We show that $IA(A_Gamma)$ is residually torsion-free nilpotent and describe its abelianisation. This is complemented by a survey of previous results concerning the lower central series of $A_Gamma$. One of the commonly used generating sets of $Aut(F_n)$ is the set of Whitehead automorphisms. We describe a geometric method for decomposing an element of $Aut(F_n)$ as a product of Whitehead automorphisms via Stallings' folds. We finish with a brief discussion of the action of $Out(F_n)$ on Culler and Vogtmann's Outer Space. In particular we describe translation lengths of elements with regards to the `non-symmetric Lipschitz metric' on Outer Space.

La géométrie non commutative, du fait qu'elle permet de généraliser des objets géométriques sous forme algébrique, offre des perspectives intéressantes pour réunir la théorie quantique des champs et la relativité générale dans un seul cadre. Elle peut être abordée selon différents points de vue et deux d'entre eux sont présentés dans cette thèse. Le premier, le calcul différentiel basé sur les dérivations, nous a permis de construire une action de Yang-Mills-Higgs dans laquelle apparait des champs pouvant être interprétés comme des champs de Higgs. Avec le second, les triplets spectraux, on peut généraliser la notion de distance entre état et calculer des formules de distance. C'est ce que nous avons fait dans le cas de l'espace de Moyal et du tore non commutatif. / Noncommutative geometry offers interesting prospects to gather the quantum field theory and relativity in one general framework because it allows one to generalize geometric objects algebraically. It can be approached from different points of view and two of them are presented in this PhD. The first, calculus based on derivations, allowed us to construct a Yang-Mills-Higgs action which appears in fields that can be interpreted as Higgs fields. With the second, spectral triples, we can generalize the notion of distance between states. We calculated the distance formulas in the case of the Moyal space and the noncommutative torus.

Esta tese tem por base três artigos publicados pelo autor e colaboradores. O primeiro artigo trata do problema da quantização de modelos pseudoclássicos de partículas escalares em campos de fundo não-abelianos, cujo foco é a dedução desses modelos pseudo-clássicos usando métodos de integral de trajetória. O segundo artigo investiga a possibilidade de realizar modelos de gravitação dilatônica em variedades não-comutativas em duas dimensões. Para tanto, vale-se de um método de análise de vínculos e simetrias especialmente desenvolvido para gravitação não-comutativa em duas dimensões. O terceiro artigo discute modelos renormalizáveis em espaços-tempo não-comutativos com parâmetro de não-comutatividade bifermiônico em quatro dimensões. / This thesis is based on three published papers by the author and co-authors. The rst article treats the quantization problem of pseudoclassical models of scalar particles in non-Abelian backgrounds, which aims at deriving these models using path-integral methods. The second article examines the possibility of realizing dilaton gravity models in noncommutative two-dimensional manifolds. It relies upon a method of analysis of constraints and symmetries especially developed for non-commutative dilaton gravities in two dimensions. The third article discusses renormalizable models in noncommutative spacetime with bifermionic noncommutative parameter in four dimensions.

As pointed out by I. Moerdijk and G. Reyes in [63], C&#8734-rings have been studied specially for their use in Singularity Theory and in order to construct topos models for Synthetic Differential Geometry. In this work, we follow a complementary trail, deepening our knowledge about them through a more pure bias, making use of Category Theory and accounting them from a logical-categorial viewpoint. We begin by giving a comprehensive systematization of the fundamental facts of the (equational) theory of C&#8734-rings, widespread here and there in the current literature - mostly without proof - which underly the theory of C&#8734-rings. Next we develop some topics of what we call a &#8734Commutative Algebra, expanding some partial results of [66] and [67]. We make a systematic study of von Neumann-regular C&#8734-rings (following [2]) and we present some interesting results about them, together with their (functorial) relationship with Boolean spaces. We study some sheaf theoretic notions on C&#8734-rings, such as &#8734(locally)-ringed spaces and the smooth Zariski site. Finally we describe classifying toposes for the (algebraic) theory of &#8734 rings, the (coherent) theory of local C&#8734-rings and the (algebraic) theory of von Neumann regular C&#8734-rings. / Conforme observado por I. Moerdijk e G. Reyes em [63], os anéis C&#8734 têm sido estudados especialmente tendo em vista suas aplicações em Teoria de Singularidades e para construir toposes que sirvam de modelos para a Geometria Diferencial Sintética. Neste trabalho, seguimos um caminho complementar, aprofundando nosso conhecimento sobre eles por um viés mais puro, fazendo uso da Teoria das Categorias e os analisando a partir de pontos de vista algébrico e lógico-categorial. Iniciamos o trabalho apresentando uma sistematização abrangente dos fatos fundamentais da teoria (equacional) dos anéis C&#8734, distribuídos aqui e ali na literatura atual - a maioria sem demonstrações - mas que servem de base para a teoria. Na sequência, desenvolvemos alguns tópicos do que denominamos Álgebra Comutativa C&#8734, expandindo resultados parciais de [66] e [67]. Realizamos um estudo sistemático dos anéis C&#8734 von Neumann-regulares - na linha do estudo algébrico realizado em [2]- e apresentamos alguns resultados interessantes a seu respeito, juntamente com sua relação (funtorial) com os espaços booleanos. Estudamos algumas noções pertinentes à Teoria de Feixes para anéis &#8734, tais como espaços (localmente) &#8734anelados e o sítio de Zariski liso. Finalmente, descrevemos toposes classicantes para a teoria (algébrica) dos anéis C&#8734, a teoria (coerente) dos anéis locais C&#8734 e a teoria (algébrica) dos anéis C&#8734 von Neumann regulares.

Quantenfeldtheorien, die auf Räumen mit nichtkommutierenden Koordinaten definiert sind, finden in den letzten Jahren zunehmend Interesse. Mögliche Anwendungen dieser Modelle gibt es unter anderem in der Stringtheorie, der Phänomenologie der Elementarteilchen und in der Festkörperphysik. In der vorliegenden Arbeit untersuchen wir nichtstörungstheoretisch solche nichtkommutativen Feldtheorien mit Hilfe von Monte-Carlo Simulationen. Wir betrachten eine zweidimensionale reine U(1) Eichfeldtheorie und eine dreidimensionale skalare Feldtheorie. Dazu bilden wir die entsprechenden Gittertheorien auf dimensional reduzierte Modelle ab, die mittels N x N Matrizen formuliert sind. Die 2d Eichtheorie auf dem Gitter ist äquivalent zum twisted Eguchi-Kawai Modell, das wir für N=25 bis 515 simulierten. Wir beobachteten ein deutliches Skalierungsverhalten der Ein- und Zweipunktfunktionen von Wilson-Schleifen sowie von Zweipunktfunktionen von Polyakov-Linien bei großen N. Die Zweipunktfunktionen stimmen mit einer universellen Wellenfunktionsrenormierung überein. Der Doppel-Skalierungslimes bei N gegen unendlich entspricht dem Kontinuumslimes in der nichtkommutativen Gittereichtheorie. Das beobachtete Skalierungsverhalten bei großen N zeigt die nichtstörungstheoretische Renormierbarkeit dieser nichtkommutativen Feldtheorie. Für kleine Flächen gilt das Flächengesetz der Wilson-Schleifen wie in der kommutativen 2d planaren Eichtheorie. Für große Flächen finden wir jedoch stattdessen ein oszillierendes Verhalten. In diesem Bereich wächst die Phase der Wilson-Schleifen linear mit der Fläche. Identifiziert man den Nichtkommutativitätsparameter mit einem inversen Magnetfeld, entspricht dies dem Aharonov-Bohm-Effekt. Als nächstes untersuchen wir das 3d lambda phi^4 Modell mit zwei nichtkommutierenden Dimensionen. Wir analysieren das Phasendiagramm. Unsere Ergebnisse stimmen mit einer Vermutung von Gubser und Sondhi in vier Dimensionen überein. Sie sagen vorher, daß sich der geordnete Bereich in eine uniforme und eine nichtuniforme Phase aufspaltet. Desweiteren zeigen wir Ergebnisse für Korrelatoren und der Dispersionsrelation. In der nichtkommutativen Feldtheorie ist die Lorentz-Symmetrie explizit gebrochen, was zu einer deformierten Dispersionsrelation führt. In der Ein-Schleifen Störungstheorie ergibt sich ein zusätzlicher infrarot divergenter Term. Unsere Daten bestätigen dieses störungstheoretische Ergebnis. Wir bestätigen ebenso eine Beobachtung von Ambjorn und Catterall, daß eine nichtuniforme Phase auch in zwei Dimensionen existiert, obwohl dies eine spontane Brechung der Translationssymmetrie impliziert. / In the recent years there is a surge of interest in quantum field theories on spaces with non-commutative coordinates. The potential applications of such models include string theory, particle phenomenology as well as solid state physics. We perform a non-perturbative study of such non-commutative field theories by the means of Monte Carlo simulations. In particular we consider a two dimensional pure U(1) gauge field theory and a three dimensional scalar field theory. To this end we map the corresponding lattice theories on dimensionally reduced models, which are formulated in terms of N x N matrices. The 2d gauge theory on the lattice is equivalent to the twisted Eguchi-Kawai model, which we simulated at N ranging from 25 to 515. We observe a clear large N scaling for the 1- and 2-point function of Wilson loops, as well as the 2-point function of Polyakov lines. The 2-point functions agree with a universal wave function renormalization. The large N double scaling limit corresponds to the continuum limit of non-commutative gauge theory, so the observed large N scaling demonstrates the non-perturbative renormalizability of this non-commutative field theory. The area law for the Wilson loops holds at small physical area as in commutative 2d planar gauge theory, but at large areas we find an oscillating behavior instead. In that regime the phase of the Wilson loop grows linearly with the area. This agrees with the Aharonov-Bohm effect in the presence of a constant magnetic field, identified with the inverse non-commutativity parameter. Next we investigate the 3d lambda phi^4 model with two non-commutative coordinates and explore its phase diagram. Our results agree with a conjecture by Gubser and Sondhi in d=4, who predicted that the ordered regime splits into a uniform phase and a phase dominated by stripe patterns. We further present results for the correlators and the dispersion relation. In non-commutative field theory the Lorentz invariance is explicitly broken, which leads to a deformation of the dispersion relation. In one loop perturbation theory this deformation involves an additional infrared divergent term. Our data agree with this perturbative result. We also confirm the recent observation by Ambjorn and Catterall that stripes occur even in d=2, although they imply the spontaneous breaking of the translation symmetry.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit "Nichtkommutative Blochtheorie" beschäftigen wir uns mit der Spektraltheorie bestimmter Klassen von Hilbertraumoperatoren, den elliptischen Operatoren auf Darstellungsräumen von Hilbert-C*-Moduln. Die auftretenden C*-Algebren kodieren dabei Symmetrieeigenschaften der entsprechenden Operatoren.Für kommutative Symmetrien ist die Blochtheorie ein geeignetes Hilfsmittel. Wir schildern diese Methode zunächst in einem geometrischen Kontext, der allgemein genug ist, um die bekannten Ergebnisse über die Abwesenheit singulärstetigen Spektrums im Hinblick auf physikalische Anwendungen zu erweitern. Wir lassen uns dann durch eine Neuinterpretation der Blochtheorie aus einem nichtkommutativen Blickwinkel inspirieren zur Entwicklung einer nichtkommutativen Blochtheorie. Dabei werden bestimmte Eigenschaften von C*-Algebren verknüpft mit Eigenschaften des Spektrums elliptischer Operatoren. Diese Blochtheorie für Hilbert-C*-Moduln erlaubt es, verschiedene bekannte Resultate aus dem Bereich kommutativer (diskreter und kontinuierlicher) Geometrien mit nichtkommutativen Symmetrien in einem neuen gemeinsamen Rahmen zusammenzufassen, der Raum läßt für Modelle nichtkommutativer Geometrien mit nichtkommutativen Symmetrien. Wichtigstes Beispiel für die behandelte Klasse von Operatoren in der mathematischen Physik sind die Schrödingeroperatoren mit periodischem Magnetfeld und Potential. Wir ordnen sie in den Rahmen kommutativer und nichtkommutativer Blochtheorie ein und wenden die zuvor bereitgestellten Methoden an. / In this doctoral thesis "Nichtkommutative Blochtheorie'' (non-commutative Bloch theory) we investigate the spectral theory of a certain class of operators on Hilbert space: the elliptic operators associated with representations of Hilbert C*-modules. The C*-algebras that arise encode symmetry properties of the corresponding operators. For commutative symmetries Bloch theory is a proper tool. We describe this method in a geometric context which is general enough to extend known results about absence of singular continuous spectrum in view of physical applications. Then --- inspired by a new interpretation of Bloch theory from a non-commutative point of view --- we develop a non-commutative Bloch theory. Here certain properties of C*-algebras get linked to spectral properties of elliptic operators. This Bloch theory for Hilbert \CS-modules allows to unite, in a new common framework, several known results from the field of commutative (discrete and continuous) geometries having non-commutative symmetries; this leaves ample room for models of non-commutative geometries having non-commutative symmetries. In mathematical physics, the most important example for the class of operators considered is given by the Schrödinger operators with periodic magnetic field and potential. We place them into the framework of commutative and non-commutative Bloch theory and apply the methods developed before.

As pointed out by I. Moerdijk and G. Reyes in [63], C&#8734-rings have been studied specially for their use in Singularity Theory and in order to construct topos models for Synthetic Differential Geometry. In this work, we follow a complementary trail, deepening our knowledge about them through a more pure bias, making use of Category Theory and accounting them from a logical-categorial viewpoint. We begin by giving a comprehensive systematization of the fundamental facts of the (equational) theory of C&#8734-rings, widespread here and there in the current literature - mostly without proof - which underly the theory of C&#8734-rings. Next we develop some topics of what we call a &#8734Commutative Algebra, expanding some partial results of [66] and [67]. We make a systematic study of von Neumann-regular C&#8734-rings (following [2]) and we present some interesting results about them, together with their (functorial) relationship with Boolean spaces. We study some sheaf theoretic notions on C&#8734-rings, such as &#8734(locally)-ringed spaces and the smooth Zariski site. Finally we describe classifying toposes for the (algebraic) theory of &#8734 rings, the (coherent) theory of local C&#8734-rings and the (algebraic) theory of von Neumann regular C&#8734-rings. / Conforme observado por I. Moerdijk e G. Reyes em [63], os anéis C&#8734 têm sido estudados especialmente tendo em vista suas aplicações em Teoria de Singularidades e para construir toposes que sirvam de modelos para a Geometria Diferencial Sintética. Neste trabalho, seguimos um caminho complementar, aprofundando nosso conhecimento sobre eles por um viés mais puro, fazendo uso da Teoria das Categorias e os analisando a partir de pontos de vista algébrico e lógico-categorial. Iniciamos o trabalho apresentando uma sistematização abrangente dos fatos fundamentais da teoria (equacional) dos anéis C&#8734, distribuídos aqui e ali na literatura atual - a maioria sem demonstrações - mas que servem de base para a teoria. Na sequência, desenvolvemos alguns tópicos do que denominamos Álgebra Comutativa C&#8734, expandindo resultados parciais de [66] e [67]. Realizamos um estudo sistemático dos anéis C&#8734 von Neumann-regulares - na linha do estudo algébrico realizado em [2]- e apresentamos alguns resultados interessantes a seu respeito, juntamente com sua relação (funtorial) com os espaços booleanos. Estudamos algumas noções pertinentes à Teoria de Feixes para anéis &#8734, tais como espaços (localmente) &#8734anelados e o sítio de Zariski liso. Finalmente, descrevemos toposes classicantes para a teoria (algébrica) dos anéis C&#8734, a teoria (coerente) dos anéis locais C&#8734 e a teoria (algébrica) dos anéis C&#8734 von Neumann regulares.

Nous étudions des propriétés de rigidité et des propriétés de non-rigidité forte d'actions de groupes sur des espaces Lp non-commutatifs. Récemment, des variantes de la propriété (T) de Kazhdan et de la propriété de point fixe (FH) ont été introduites, appelées respectivement propriété (TB) et propriété (FB), et énoncées en termes de représentations orthogonales sur un espace de Banach B. Nous nous intéressons au cas où B est un espace Lp non-commutatif Lp(M), associé à une algèbre de von Neumann M. Dans un premier temps, nous montrons qu'un groupe possédant la propriété (T) possède la propriété (TLp(M)) pour toute algèbre de von Neumann M. On en déduit que les groupes de rang supérieur ont la propriété (FLp(M)). Nous montrons que pour certaines algèbres, comme par exemple M=B(H), les propriétés (T) et (TLp(M) sont équivalentes. A l'opposé, nous caractérisons les groupes possédant la propriété (Tlp), et montrons que cette classe de groupes est strictement plus grande que celle avec la propriété (T). Dans un second temps, nous introduisons des variantes de la propriété (H) de Haagerup, les propriétés (HLp(M)) et l' a-FLp(M)-menabilité, définies en termes d'actions sur l'espace Lp(M). Nous décrivons les liens entre la propriété (H) et sa variante (HLp(M)) suivant l'algèbre M considérée. Nous montrons que les groupes possédant (H) sont a-FLp(M)-menables pour certaines algèbres M, comme par exemple le facteur II infini hyperfini. / We studied rigidity properties and strong non-rigidity properties for group actions on non-commutative Lp spaces. Recently, variants of Kazhdan's property (T) and fixed-point property (FH) were introduced, respectively called property (TB) and property (FB), and described in terms of orthogonal representations on a Banach space B. We are interested in the case where B is a non-commutative Lp space Lp(M), associated to a von Neumann algebra M. In a first part, we show that if a group has property (T), then it has property (TLp(M)) for any von Neumann algebra M. We deduce that higher rank groups have property (FLp(M)). We show that for some algebras, such as M=B(H), properties (T) and (TLp(M)) are equivalent. By contrast, we characterize groups with property (Tlp), and show that this class of groups is larger than the one with property (T). In a second part, we introduce variants of the Haagerup property (H), namely properties (HLp(M)) and a-FLp(M)-menability, defined in terms of actions on the space Lp(M). We describe relationships between property (H) and its variant (HLp(M)) for different algebras M. We show that groups with property (H) are a-FLp(M)-menable for some algebras M, such as the hyperfinite II infinite factor.