Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Great Simplification – Part II

After slashing the original definition of Axiom 6, here comes a similar reduction of Axiom 7, originally introduced in The trapped Arrow of Time – Part III.

The new
Axiom 7 Q-Loops
axiom VII n    
Axiom 7.1 are technical definitions:  completely Q-ordered sets and the closed hull of a set. 

Axiom 7.2-4 introduce a substitute for Jordan-Curves. 7.2 defines the property of being connect for a set in terms of topology. 7.3 defines the relation of being topologically separated for two points.  Please note that we don’t require that the whole space is T1. 7.4 defines J-Curves as sets that contain for each point at least one separated partner and fall apart exactly if a separated pair is removed. This definition requires implicitly the Axiom of Choice, therefore it’s flagged.

For the moment let’s assume that J-Curves exist -later on we will claim the existence of rather specific ones- and see whether the definition meets our expectations. Axiom 7.5 introduces the set of connected subsets into which a separated pair splits the J-Curve. By definition for J-Curves, there must be at least 2 of them.    
Lemma S 2 Segments  
lemma s 2 
The lemma shows that –as intended- a separated pair splits a J-Curve in just 2 segments. And these 2 segments contain at least each a point for a separated pair, that is we’ve got two pairs that mutually separate each other.

Sounds  familiar? Well, be aware that the term J-Curve was introduced and some of it’s properties shown without reference to the initial Q-Order, yet –as intended- on a J-Curve there exists a natural Q-Order, as defined by Axiom 7.6.
Lemma S 3 J-Order 
lemma s 3

Be aware that by no means all J-Curves correspond to q-ordered sets, as shown below. 
Rhombus
The above yellow Rhombus  is a  J-Curve, yet it’s not a Q-ordered set but rather built by of 2 Q-ordered sets, the left and right side.

It appears as if we might start out just with some topology with some nice properties … and [re-]construct the Q-Order. For the moment we ask only –consistent with our whole approach- that every totally q-ordered set shall be consistently embeddable into some J-Curve, where consistency means that original Q-Order and derived Q-order of the curve are the same.

Axiom A 7.7 Consistent Embedding 
axiom VII n 7

Axiom A 7.7 has backward consequences for the Q-topology.
Lemma S 4 Connected Space 
lemma s 4  
As immediate consequence of Axiom 7.6, J-Curves finally do exist. J-Curves connect the whole space (S 4.2), which is hence a connected topological space (S 4.3).

Finally
Axiom 7.8 Local Orientation
axiom VII n 8

This Axiom establishes an intrinsic relation between J-Curves –remember they are closed- and the underlying Q-Topology. For each point –respectively its closed hull- there shall exist at least one neighborhood, sufficiently large that it can be split into two subsets –sometimes called local future and local past, or local input and local output- such that  each of these subsets is J-convex – i.e. any two points can be connected by a J-Curves, but sufficiently small that any J-Curve that connects between the sets contains at least one external point.

The picture below illustrates the concept.
grid J-curves
The two sets are
{ {(0,0),(-1,0)}, (-1,0), {(-1,0),(-1,1)}, (-1,1), {(-1,1),(0,0)}, {(-1,1),(0,1)}, (0,1),{(0,1),(0,0)} }
{ {(0,0),(0,-1)}, (0,-1), {(0,-1),(1,-1)}, (1,-1), {(1,-1),(0,0)} {(1,-1),(1,0)}, (1,0),{(1,0),(0,0)} }

Axiom 7.8 requires at least two dimensions (or two J-Curves). As to be shown, it captures the  underlying  essence of the Hawking-construction  for regular curves, which in the original text is scattered between local properties of the manifold –existence of local convex neighborhoods in terms of the Manifold-Topology, global causality-conditions –strong causality-, all needed to effectively define Regular Curves, and finally the properties  defined by the construction as such.

This ends our preliminary presentation of the new Axiom 7 Q-Loops.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

The Great Simplification - Part I (corrections)

As stated clearly in the presentation, this BLOG documents Work in Progress, not at all final results. Some decades ago, when I started to study seriously Mathematics, I always wondered: how the hell were those powerful initial axioms and definitions found, which then gave origin to such powerful theories? Most of my teachers (and most Text-Books) presented only the final results in the sequence Axiom, Axiom, Definition, Definition, Lemma, Lemma, Lemma .. and out of box jumps a wonderful theorem. Actually it took me some time to discover that the way the final results were presented had little, if any, to do with how they had been constructed. Similar I suspect most traditional papers as published by Journals are –may be due to the harsh space-limits of Journals and time-limits of potential readers- rather an intent to impress than to explain making understand how. (I do doubt however that it truly saves time for the really interested reader, because unless he or she knew already, they have to reconstruct a living body of knowledge by analyzing only its bar bones). 

So here goes a new round in my construction process: While working on a new post about Dedekind-Completeness and its extension to partial orders and Q-orders I got stuck in some little, tiny detail: from Net-Topology I know that there should be never adjacent open or adjacent close points. And Hawking-Topology requires that pieces of world-lines have to be continuous, hence connected, images of [0,1], which boils down to exactly the same requirement as for Net-Topology, yet it turned out to be impossible to deduce this simple property from the Axiom VI in its former form. Reluctant to dump not only already written pages but some 20 Lemmata or so and their proofs, I tried first –what I suspect many do- to patch the initial Axioms –in this case Axiom 6   -the results can be seen in The trapped Arrow of Time  Part II- but finally decided to start over again.

The reasons: Though very common, in my feeling for esthetics these patches damage any beauty of a true Axiom-System. Second the former versions used a concept –Lines- that has its own flaws already on conceptual level: it requires the Axiom of Choice twice for its definition, which makes it very cumbersome to use later on and its in a way unphysical, as a physical process can never correspond to a geometric world-line, again a consequence of the uncertainty-principle, both considerations mentioned already in The trapped Arrow of Time - Part I.

Yet as both Hawking and Petri use Lines very intensively, I gave them at least a try, but finally decided to drop the concept Line as something fundamental and tried to rewrite Axiom 6 and Axiom 7 without using it … and received as gratification a great simplification without –as to be shown- loosing essence in modeling, that is if there are lines, then they behave as before.

Here the new Axiom 6 corrected
Axiom 6 Q-Topology            
axiom VI n    
The Axiom starts with the definition of U-neighborhoods of a point using the Q-Relation itself. Each element of neighborhood U shall by member of some limiting pair (A 6.1.1), for each member of a pair there shall be a representative (A 6.1.2), and finally a point of the same interval closer to the point than some already included, shall be likewise included (A 6.1.3). For the notion closer see Going Backward, Going Forward - Part I and Going in Circles - Part II.

The picture below may be helpful:
Grid Open Intervalls
A blue neighborhood { (0,0), {(0,0),(-1,1)}, {(0,0),(-1,-1)},)}, {(0,0),(1,-1)},)}, {(0,0),(1,1)} }, a red neighborhood { {(0,0),(0,1)}, (0,1), (0,0) }.
The color-families green and purple represent similar as before related pairs w.r.t. the point (0,0).  

Lemma S 1 shows that arbitrary unions and meets of two U –neighborhoods are U –neighborhoods.    corrected 
lemma s 1   
Axiom 6.2-6 Q-Topology    
axiom VI n 2-6   
As before, we introduce closed points as all those which can be distinguished from any other point by using the Q-Relation. An open set of the Q-topology includes for each closed point  a U-neighborhood. Lemma S 1 essentially proves already that O is a topology. We claim consistency of concepts: what is closed as Q-Relation shall be closed as Q-Topology. The complete cone of a point shall be open.

Here ends the presentation of the simplified Axiom 6.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

A Glimpse of the Big Picture

I’ve been asked whether there is a single text, that comprises the most essential of Q-Orders. Well – there is not, or not yet. To get an idea of what is and what not yet, may be the below picture helps.

The Big Picture
The Big Picture

The left side shows in a very simplified manner the tower of mathematics beneath contemporary, classical General Relativity Theory. The right side, as far as I’m aware  less solidified and standardized yet, the tower of mathematics beneath contemporary usage of Petri-Nets in Informatics.

I had this picture already in my office about 30 years ago. Now, I thought, if one would like to relate seriously the truly interesting part on top of the left tower with something may be interesting on top of the right tower –meaning by proofs and not by analogies- then one would need a mathematical bridge between both towers, starting already on some quite low-level of both towers.  This is, where the work on Q-orders started. They should permit both types of domains –Real and Countable- and should produce one single category of a topology to relate both towers.

To complicate the issue, I discarded partial orders as the funding concepts, as both from Physics and Net-Theory we knew that it are the cycles, that produce basic invariants, on the very end even enable measurement: while we can measure our time as cycles, we can’t measure space without using time. [I know Carlo Rovelli will most strongly disagree].

I did know already the red elements towards the center, they were developed while I was still a GMD. 10 years later, Olaf Kummer and  Mark-Oliver Stehr (1) give a quite complete résumé of what has been found out. Yet –though published already in 1976- I was not aware of the proposal of Hawking et. al (1) for a New Topology for Space-Time, i.e. the blue elements towards the center.

May be if I’d known, my life’s history would have been different. Yet I did know already then that the basic invariant of embedding Petri-Nets into (1+n)-Vector Spaces seemed to be the group of conformal transformations. So after leaving GMD in 1985 I accumulated notes and proofs on predecessors for Q-Orders, yet without any serious break-through, still I succeeded giving Axioms 1-5 for Q-orders their current form. (See Going in Circles Part I to III).

After getting back more seriously, about in 2007 or so, and using the resource Internet (+some additional dollars, unfortunately many seminal papers are still sold, while they should be free for humanity), I got across the cited paper from Hawking and a later companion by David Malament (3). Suddenly there was a correspondence already worked-out: a structure on both sides, whose geometrical invariant is the conformal group.

So the only task remaining was to find an axiomatic definition for the Q-Topology, that covered both sides –the Hawking Topology and the Net Topology-. Yet Hawking and Malament use for definitions and proofs many features intrinsically related with lower parts of their tower, starting with the standard definition of paths, which carries automatically the Hausdorff-properties of Reals into the Topology to be defined, over concepts like locally convex, which make sense in a Real-Linear-Vector-Space setting, yet not in the right tower etc. etc. etc. So it took some time to get to the current axioms of Q-Topology (Axiom 6) and Q-Loop-Topology (Axiom 7), which both do only rely on concepts available on both sides of the Big Picture. (The trapped arrow of Time Part I-III).

So what is finished –at least in my electronic scrap-book- is the basic bridge. And I will continue to present its definition and related results during the next weeks. Specifically I will introduce a rich set of models, all by themselves important, for Q-Orders, which will construct something may be close to the fundaments for middle-tower that might be of some use by itself. Done, I’ll proceed to recompile the essays into one single paper, to be published may be through my arXiv account.

Yet I’m fully aware that there is still neither Informatics nor Physics in the picture, which both start on top of their respective towers. The fundamental problem: we have no tools yet to formulate equations or even quantify invariants. Though it’s known that the Hawking-Topology allows to reconstruct the metric and it’s known that the conformal group of transformation corresponds to a single central source of gravity, but as far as I know –and found googleing the Internet- nobody has investigate yet the full way back: i.e. given a Einstein (or Einstein-Cartan) field-equation and posing some reasonable constraints on its right –Energy-Tensor- side, what are the effects on the underlying Casual Structure? (Though Alfonso García-Parrado  and Miguel Sánchez (4) may give some hints).

As these tools are still missing, it doesn’t make much of sense either to speculate about the formal relations between the big tower underlying contemporary Quantum-Mechanics and the modest elements presented so far.

There is however the sketch of a work-program to complete and solidify the middle-tower, once finished the above presentation.  

  1. Going downwards, it appears attractive to introduce the concept of a Q-Manifold. The Q-Manifold will be defined using the Complex or Quaternion (alas 2 and 4 dimensional Minkowski-Spaces) as base-space, using q-continuous functions instead of the usual Euclidian ones. The advantage: it appears as if a Q-Manifold is automatically smooth.
  2. As defining measures on S1 is quite standard and the q-continuous images of S1 correspond to Q-Loops, it should be possible to get some notion of distance for Q-Loop-Spaces.
  3. Similar remembering that the Tangent-Space may be defined as local equivalence classes of paths (alas Q-loops in our model), it should be possible to have a sort of Tangent-Space for Q-Loop-Spaces.

My only hope: my conditions of work will permit to continue … and the readers of this BLOG don’t get too impatient too soon as truly seminal posts are still month away.

The Axioms 
q theory axiom text-001   

(1) Olaf Kummer, Mark-Oliver Stehr: Petri's Axioms of Concurrency - A Selection of Recent Results , Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets, Toulouse, June 23-27, 1997, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 1248, © Springer-Verlag , 1997
(2) S. W. Hawking A.R. King and P. J. McCarthy, A new topology for curved space-time which incorporates the causal, differential and conformal structures Journal of Mathematical Physics Vol. 17, No 2, February 1976
(3) D. Malament, The class of continuous timelike curves determines the topology of spacetime Journal of Mathematical Physics, July 1977, Volume 18, Issue 7, pp. 1399-1404
(4) Alfonso García-Parrado, Miguel Sánchez,
 Further properties of causal relationship: causal structure stability, new criteria for isocausality and counterexamples, arXiv:math-ph/0507014v2

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Going Backward, Going Forward – Part II

Partial obsolete – see below

This post will be dedicated to 1-dimensional Q-Orders, studying the effects Axiom 6 Q-Topology has on them and preparing the ground for the n+1-dimensional case.
Axiom 6
axiom VI  

We will study 4 cases: the Rational Numbers, the Real Numbers, the Cyclic Group Zn and the Circle Group, using for the latter geometric representations on the Unit-Circle when appropriate.

Here are the more formal definitions:
Lemma F 6
lemma F 6
The proof for F 6.2-3 –we assume the normal order <, was already given –they are as full orders also partial orders-, for F 6.7-8 the reader, if in doubt, is kindly invited to go back at least to Going in Circles – Part III. The constraints -Reduced, Regular, Q-Connectivity- are obviously satisfied.  

Obsolete by the Great Simplification … yet still useful for heuristics .. and will be replaced soon.

Next we will have a look on the corresponding Line-Sets.
Lemma F 7
lemma F 7
To show the intended above:
intervalls s1 
Please note that in all cases the red or blue marked sets designate or represent just one line, despite that apparently this line is not always connected.

Next we will look at l-closed points, and the open line-filter and open neighborhood-filter for each case.
Lemma F 8
lemma F 8 As the definition for open L-intervals –hence the open neighborhood-filter- requires that only for l-closed points there is a surrounding L-interval, in case of Zn any interval is by definition open, as all points are open hence any neighbor-hood is open. Different in the other three cases.

Next a look on the topologies and whether they fit into Axiom 6. Nothing new, all rather very basics from elementary topology.
Lemma F 9 
lemma F 9
No big surprises yet, as it is no surprise that Real Line and Circle Group both satisfy Axiom 6.7, mainly due to their Dedekind-Completeness.

This end our first round through 1-dimensional Q-Orders.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Going Backward, Going Forward – Part I

In the following 3 posts we will go backward and forward through the seven axiom-sets, on one side to get a better feeling for Q-Orders, on the other to relate Q-orders with classically known concepts. The final post will show that the Hawking-Topology is a Q-Order.

Let’s start in this post with some considerations about the Axioms 1 to 5 and their relation to partial orders.
Axiom 1   Q-Relation
axiom I
 
Lemma F.1   Q-Relation 
lemma F 1  
states that with the proper definitions, any partial order satisfies Axiom I.

Axiom 2 has similar effects for partial orders has it has for Q-Orders:
Axiom 2   Q-reduced
axiom II

Lemma F.2   Q-Reduced
lemma F 2i.e. we don’t permit isolated points and points that could not be told apart by using the partial order are considered the same. Further on we will consider only reduced partial orders. Please note this condition is weaker than the standard distinguishing conditions.

Axiom 3.1 imposes an additional condition on partial orders, every sequence of three points a<b<c can be completed to have 4, yet Axiom 3.2 follows already from being a partial order.
Axiom 3   Q-regular
axiom III
Lemma F.3   Q-Regular
lemma F 3  
Please observe that using brute force to prove F.3.2 requires to analyze (3*8)^4=331,776 combinations of binary conditions, which due to internal dependencies may be reduced to less then 6144, but still a substantial quantity, which again for a proof may be further reduced by applying internal symmetries. Instead of wasting three pages with either resulting valid combinations or detailed analysis of symmetries, we just put a small picture and invite the reader to do the latter her- or himself.
Lemma f 3 pic 
Suggestions for a 5 lines-proof are obviously welcomed. We let the brute force method being applied by a computer. With respect to F.3.1, we assume henceforth that all partial orders a regular.

Intentionally –it was designed that way- Axiom 4 turns out to be a property of reduced, regular partial orders.
Axiom 4   Q-Order
axiom IV
Lemma F.4  Q-Order
lemma F 4  
Again we will not reproduce the pages of a formal prove, but invite once more to have a look on some pictures.
Lemma F 4 pic

We break the analysis  of Axiom 5 into two pieces, first the construction of the orientation-set, then the connectivity conditions.
Axiom 5   Q-Orientation
axiom V
Lemma F 5.1  Q-Orientation
lemma F 5 1
Actually we construct the two orientation-sets, then the F 5.1.3 is direct consequence of the construction, while F 5.1.4 is proven in few steps. This establishes the expected result F 5.1.5: partial orders have an orientation. But please note: the orientation is not the order of partial order itself, as orientation means always oriented cycles.

The final lemma of this post transcribes the connectivity-condition for Q-orders into the language of partial orders.
Lemma F 5.2   Q-Connected
lemma F 5 2

As preliminary result of our comparison Q-Orders versus Partial Orders, we obtain that under relatively weak constraints –Lemmas F.2 and F.3- plus the connectivity-condition –Lemma F.5.2- Partial Orders are models for the Axioms 1-5 for Q-Orders. This will ease the task to establish Hawking-Spaces –alas Causal Sets- as Models for Q-orders, because we can simply rely on the underlying partial-order and are almost done. By default these partial orders satisfy our weak constraints, while –advancing results- the connectivity-condition is one of their key-features.

Yet second this condition points already on a set of minimal constraints that a partial order must comply to become a candidate to be related by whatever structural-knowledge-preserving mechanism to the structure underlying GRT. It turns out that these have to take the form of Second-Order-Predicates, i.e. they can not be expressed as simple statements about relations among points.

Third it appears as if Q-Orders provide a proving-mechanics almost as strong as the transitivity respectively monotony from partial orders, essential not only for proofs but already for constructions like induction or convergence etc., yet without the disadvantage to have to believe that there is a universal beginning and a universal end for all and everything, a non-scientific hypothesis as it can’t be proven nor disproven. (See also Fotini Markopoulou (1)).

As a technical advantage, it will allow us to talk about systems with cyclic behavior –at least during some time-, not only –see Oscillator- a fundamental model in Physics but essential to introduce measurements or without cyclic clocks there is no time and without time there is no measurement at all, as there are no means to measure space as such.

This ends our first considerations about Q-Orders and Partial Orders.

1 Fotini Markopoulou, An insider's guide to quantum causal histories (1999), http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/9912137

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The trapped Arrow of Time – Part III

Obsolete by the Great Simplification … yet still useful for heuristics

The central result of the cited articles from Stephen Hawking(1) and David Malament(2) is the proof that the path-topology, and only the path-topology, of space-time defines the time-like curves and viceversa, i.e. the time-like curves define uniquely the topology, where in turn the metric Tensor g may be reconstructed up to a conformal factor –in case of Lorentzian Manifolds- from the underlying topology.

This result is transcendental in our context, as hence time-like curves can be defined using only means of set-topology, that is without the heavy baggage of Pseudo-Riemann Manifolds etc. etc. and their implicit baggage of Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Infinity anywhere etc. etc.

This stripped-down model of space-time can be extended without sacrificing its essential mathematical content to finite and countable models, something that can’t be done, at least no so easy, while –Einstein never said we had to- sticking to Lorentzian Manifolds supposedly as only feasible mathematical model underneath GRT.

… and we are almost there. Let’s see what still was missing in Part II:
grid symmetries

Here we’ve got our already standard grid twice: once as-is, once flipped along the magenta axis of arrows, while the green arrows invert their direction. This transformation in blue coordinates corresponds to interchange the space- and the time-coordinate, a symmetry with profound physical interpretation. However –remember the coordinates by now have no meaning by themselves- the two grids are until now topologically identical: there is a 1-to-1 correspondence of boxes and connectors.

This means that only with this topology, the one defined until now, there is no way to preserve orientation or more general identify time-like curves only by means of topology. Actually, the picture already hints what to do: the time-arrow changed position (right side<>below), such that if we include the time arrow as additional connectors into the grid, we might be done.
grid no-symmetries
We marked with a smiley two boxes, which before adding the additional
connectors were topologically symmetric under the interchange of time and space and now are not. Noteworthy, the additional connectors were already present at some earlier stage of the development of net-theory and had their own name observables, as we will see –maybe- in a later post by no means a name by chance. And by then at least I knew already, that they are essential to define orientation respectively natural orders, i.e orders completely defined by their topology. So welcome back.

This is the content of
Axiom 7 Loops
axiom VII

Axiom 7.1 defines objects similar to the standard one-dimensional sphere, yet without relying on other concepts than our Axioms defined so far. The first line expresses that it should have just one dimension by requiring any 4 distinct points to be related. The second that it should comply with all Axioms defined so far, which as we’ve seen before among other orders all it points as on a circle. The third line requires double-connectivity, exactly what makes the difference between a Circle and the Real Line before one-point-compactification.

The unit-circle is one possible representation of S but likewise any other simple, closed curve i.e Jordan-Curve in the 2-plane or any homeomorphic image of the S, as from the point of view of Q they all are identical.

Axiom 7.2 defines a subset of the set of mappings from S to Q, requiring that the mapping produces an image –a curve- with at least 4 elements –remember 4 points on a circle, that’s where we started- and is an continuous mapping in the respective topologies. In traditional settings –everything at least a Hausdorff-Space- one would continue -defining paths and curves- requiring an injective mapping, we ask only –in the second line- for some form of monotony, which actually preserves orientation and excludes overcrossings. Requiring an injective mapping would carry a Hausdorff-property over to Q, which means no finite and only quite weird countable models, against all our intention. The last part of Axiom 7.2 defines a class of subsets, those that are image of some closed path, it may be understood as a generalization of the concept of Jordan-Curves. Please note that J-Curves are always closed and that they may change direction while going through Q.

Axiom 7.3-4 introduces the concept of J-connected points of a set –they may be connect by a connected piece of a J-curve, completely in the set- and J-convex sets, i.e. sets where every two points may be J-connected.

Before continuing, let’s get back to our augmented model-grid, see how Jordan-Curves may look like and if we got now sufficient to tell time- and space-axis apart using only topological means.
grid-cones

First some Jordan-Curves (remember: connectors are noted by their adjacent boxes):
blue {(0,0), {(0,0),(-1,1)}, (-1,1), {(-1,1),(0,2)}, (0,2), {(0,2),(1,1)}, (1,1),{(1,1),(0,0)}}
red {(0,0), {(0,0),(-1,0)}, (-1,0), {(-1,0),(0,-1)}, (0,-1), {(0,-1),(0,0)}
We show two candidates for cones at (0,0) a black cone set, that would correspond to the time-axis and a light blue one, that might correspond to a space-axis. Finally we shadowed the area, the smallest where the asymmetry between time and space makes itself manifest.

We observe in this area: both halves of both cones are J-connected, i.e. there is a J-Curve inside that connects any two points. Going from half to half of a cone, every inner connecting J-Curve contains (0,0) and at least one additional point, that is not part of the respective cones. There is however a difference: any J-curve in one of the black cone-halves contains at least one third element (0,2) , (0,-2) that connects directly to the center point (0,0), while this element does not exist in the light blue one, a connection established precisely by the additional connectors we added.

Actually with these observations we’re done already, if we put them into a mathematical language in a way that extends to all our structures, avoiding pitfalls like for instances that already in the 2+1 Grid (2 space-, 1 time-coordinate), there are no longer halves of the space-cone.

Axiom 7.5-6 introduces some necessary technalities, first locally connected sets then, as not all our points are closed, what may be called a saturated open set, i.e. open sets that with a neighborhood of a point contain also the point itself, third the set of open points –if there are- and finally the closed hull of a point, meaningful if it’s a open point.

Now the core of the Axiom itself:
Axiom 7.7
axiom VII A
Lets check against our model grid, if the Axiom 7.7 does indeed would we like that it does (and that way go through it line by line).
new grid - times cone

For the beginning, let’s just note that here connectors represent no problem, as they have just one box at entry, one box at exit, so most of the conditions are void.
Now boxes:
The first line of Axiom 7.7 says that there should be an open set that includes the hull of the box as a sort of limiting our scope to some open neighborhood. The gray shadowed area above may be such a neighborhood.
The second line asks that all open sets, which include the hull and are contained in our starting neighborhood, shall satisfy some conditions, i.e. once found, the axiom somehow propagates from outer to inner.
The third line asks that each of these contained open-sets should have a decomposition into 2 new open sets (sets with <- and –> on top, they will be our the local cones). Their join with the point-set {x} shall be the open-set on study, their meet contain only open points.
In our example,
{(0,0), {(0,0},(-1,1)}, (-1,1), {(-1,1),(0,2)}, (0,2), {(0,2),(1,1)}, (1,1), {(1,1),(0,0)},{(0,0),(0,2)}} is one of the candidates, it’s below dual the other.

Now the conditions, symmetric for both halves, the partition shall satisfy:
axiom VII 7-1 For every pair of distinct points y, z in the same halve and any neighborhood of the hull of the point x under study, there shall be always a J-Curve that runs within the saturated pre- (respectively post-) cone. It shall contain all three points x,y,z and at least one additional point in that neighborhood. This way we formalize the above idea of directly connected. A rapid look on the picture shows that this is indeed the case.

Be aware that the set of boxes {(0,0), (-1,1), (0,2), (1,1), (1,-1), (0,-2), (-1,-1)} is the smallest possible open neighborhood of the hull for x and the above introduced candidates for cones are the smallest possible saturated open sets to cover these boxes, then it’s easy to see that again our picture fits into the axiom: every closed J-Curve contains at least three boxes from the neighborhood of the hull .… and it’s likewise relatively easy to see why the space-cones do not fit.

The Lemma A.17
Lemma 17
shows that, as intended, curves that connect points in different cones, run trough the tip x of the cones and contain at least one outside element.

We omit for the moment additional technalities, like that each cone shall be J-convex and their intersection shall consist only of open points, which however will be important in later contexts and posts.

We note without proof here –but there will be in a later post- already one fundamental result: the Q-Loops define Q and viceversa, actually not such a big surprise looking at homotopy-theory and it’s results.

This ends our presentation of Axiom 7.

1 S. W. Hawking A.R. King and P. J. McCarthy, A new topology for curved space-time which incorporates the causal, differential and conformal structures Journal of Mathematical Physics Vol. 17, No 2, February 1976
2 D. Malament, The class of continuous timelike curves determines the topology of spacetime Journal of Mathematical Physics, July 1977, Volume 18, Issue 7, pp. 1399-1404

The trapped Arrow of Time – Part II

Obsolete by the Great Simplification … yet still useful for heuristics

After the long introduction of Part I with so many caveats based on painful experiences, here the
Axiom 6 Topology 
axiom VI
As final goal we will construct Q-Path-Topologies, that is the category of topological spaces that correspond precisely to Q-Orders. The construction is done in two steps: first in this part we introduce a first topology for Q-orders, still too general in that it still does not encode completely the orientation by solely means of topology. This will be done in the next step by means of the Q-Path-Topology.

While the definition of Q-Path-Topology adds additional axiomatic constraints on q-orders, once done, we may just start with a Q-Path-Topologies, add a global constraint, that exclude weird paths, and obtain back our underlying Q-order.

As expressed earlier, the Hawking(1)-Topology for GRT shall be one model for Q-Path-Topology and the known Petri-Topology for some discrete Concurrency Structures another. Yet there is a large list of other models, like the Complex Plane, the Quaternion, alas the Minkowski-Space, all one way or the other related to our Leitmotif General Relativity Theory and Quantum Mechanics.

We start out with most simple set, which initiated our reasoning, Lines. Axiom 6.1 defines Lines as a level-2 set, where each two distinct elements of each of its level-1 member-sets –a single piece of a Line- satisfy two conditions:

  1. They should be members of some q-set i.e. share some circle.
  2. If there is a q-set that separates them, than at least one other element of this q-set should be also member of this Line.

We note that all one element-sets are trivially Lines and advise –why will be seen later- that this definition requires the Axiom of Choice.

To grasp the origin of the second condition, we have to take a step backward looking first at Q-convex sets.

Lemma A 12 
Lemma 12

We note that the empty set and the whole universe are Q-convex sets. Due to the symmetric definition, the complement of a Q-convex set is Q-convex; a surprise may be for some: though obvious for Circle, not-so-obvious for a Line; yet –as one example with more detail in a later post- the Real Line and the Real Circle considered as Q-orders are equivalent, as they are in usual Topology after relatively harmless yet very useful 1-point compactification … and both have hence isomorphic Q-convex sets.

Lemma A 12 then states that with every separated pair {{a,b},{c,d}} a Q-convex set contains at least one of the sets in-between as defined in Q-Order Axiom Lemma 7 and sketched in the corresponding picture.

Finally, Q-convex does not require that any pair of 2 points inside are connected by an in-between set, only those that share some circle, not much of a surprise as our Lines have –among other- time-like curves of General Relativity as conceptual input: not any two points in GRT are time-like connected either; if, then in-between-sets between closed points correspond to the basis of the Alexandrov-II Topology as named by Stephen Hawking in the already mentioned article(1) and detailed –maybe- in some later post. (There is also another, the Alexandrov-I Topology, both named after the same Russian Mathematician Aleksandr Danilovich Aleksandrov, yet with completely different properties. We will need both, hence I and II).

Please note that Lemma 11 still does not need the Axiom of Choice, as the Lemma itself gives sufficient constructive means. The problem arises, when the second condition of the definition in Axiom 6.1 asks us to pick out single elements, where the choice of one element may exclude some others: as imaginable by looking on the pictures or based on the above reasoning, not all pairs of elements in the in-between set necessarily share some circle .. yet this is required by the first condition. It’s here where all the choice-trouble starts. Let’s cross fingers and believe that Lines do exist.

Axiom 6.2
axiom VI 2

constructs for each point a level-2 set of Lines, those on which the point is encircled by at least 2 other points, as we seen in the previous example. In traditional language one might call them the Line-Intervals that contain the point in question.

I’m afraid, at this point the non-mathematicians will definitively stop reading this BLOG, unless we explain picturesque what we’ve done, advising before that the choice-trouble itself can not be visualized; nobody can see infinite many distinct points as distinct and infinitely close to each other -only imagine maybe- but here is the cause of the problem. Those mathematicians, who find picturesque explanations inappropriate –either you know or you don’t- may skip the pictures.

Grid Intervalls

In the above grid, we will have a look on some of the intervals of the set of Intervals L(0,0) belonging to (0,0).
A blue interval for (0,0) : {(-1,1), {(-1,1),(0,0)}, (0,0), {(0,0),(1,-1)}, (1,-1)}
a red one {(0,1), {(0,1),(0,0)} ,(0,0), {(0,0),(0,-1)}, (0,-1)}
(Recall: connectors have no labels, they are identified by their adjacent points i.e. {(1,1),(0,0)} or {(0,-1),(0,-1)}

As indicated by the arrows, we have selected one out of the two possible directions, downwards. Obvious, the definition of an interval does not depend on the coordinate-system -blue or red- is a matter of convenience, nor on the direction chosen.

An interval includes all points between its endpoints on the same Line. Yet different to the usual, it’s not sufficient to give only the endpoints of an interval, as the following blue examples shows:
{ (0,2), {(0,2),(1,-1)}, (-1,1), {(-1,1),(0,0)}, (0,0), {(0,0),(1,-1)}, (1,-1) }
{ (0,2), {(0,2),(1,1)}, (1,1), {(1,1),(0,0)}, (0,0), {(0,0),(1,-1)}, (1,-1) }
Both intervals have the same endpoints – (0,2), ( 1,-1) - yet mean different paths.

Be aware of the above note about the Q-order equivalence of Real Line and Real Circle. For Q-orders not only the traditional Intervals but also their set-complements (!) on a line are Q-Intervals. This turns out to be no drawback, on the contrary will facilitate the construction of measures on Q-Spaces, as to be shown in a later post.

The Line-Intervals belonging to one point, hence form by set-inclusion a natural upper-complete partial order or upper-set allowing the construction of something similar to a set-filter belonging to that point, expressed more formally:
Lemma A 13 
lemma 13

We might have continued directly, coming up most probably with results similar to Keye Martin (2,3), yet decide a small detour, among other as their models do not include discrete model, essential within our framework. To understand, let’s have a look on the usual definition of what is a Topology and some of it’s most essential properties.

Lemma A 14 Topology 
lemma 14
The above states first the normal Axioms for a Topological Space plus two crucial properties: that all elements shall be distinguishable by means of their neighborhoods and that the space as such shall be connected, i.e. going by neighborhood in neighborhood in finitely many steps I can go from anywhere to everywhere. Then we recall the definition for Closed sets and that a Closed Set contains all its points of contact, which leads to the definition of open and closed points. In our context important properties are that in a distinguishing, connected topological space, no point can be both, open and closed, and that in a countable space of this kind not all points can be closed.

Axiom 6.3
axiom VI 3
retakes the results from Lemma A.13, and defines as l-closed those elements that can be separated from all others by a line or likewise, that are equal to their l-contact set.

Before continuing, let’s have a look on our Grid-Model, what might be open and what might be closed points. As one easily verifies, all connectors are closed, while the boxes are not, as their connectors x can not be separated by a line in Lx.
open-closed  points grid

Now we continue with
Axiom 6.4-5 
axiom VI 4
We define the subset of open Line-intervals of a points, and a Level-3 set built with sets of open Line-intervals, where the sets of this Level-3-set Lx (Big Lambda in the formula) contains for every open Line-interval just one representative.

In our model, we use different color-families –the green and the margenta family- to illustrate chains of intervals (one contained in another with more tones).
Grid Open IntervallsSo picturesque a set Lx in L is simply a set that contains all colors, and from each color family of intervals where if the larger interval is in Lx, so are Intervals it contains. The above finding is expressed more formally by
Lemma A 15
lemma 15  

Please keep in mind that boxes are open by definition, there fore the blue set {(4,2),{(4,2),(3,1)},(3,1)} defines an open Line-Interval for the connector {(4,2),(3,1)} as the set {{(4,2),{(4,2),(3,1)},(3,1)}} is a member of L{(4,2),(3,1)}.

Axiom 6.5 finally uses Lx to construct the actual Filter Ux (a level-2 set). The sets U in Ux simply correspond to the union of the point-sets of sets of Line-Intervals or said differently but equivalent uX projects L-sets into Q. Please note, Line-Intervals and Ux are strictly locally defined, i.e. attached to some point.

We note that Ux inherits Lx from the filter properties.
Lemma A 16
lemma 16

Axiom 6.6 introduces the Topology.
axiom VI 6

The Open sets of this Topology O are those sets that for each l-closed point contain some set of its corresponding open filter-sets Ux. We leave the verification that Axiom 6.6 defines a topology as previously described in Lemma A 14 to the interested reader, yet using Lemma A 16 it’s not so difficult either.

However there are counter-examples in already in the case of countable base-set Q, showing that neither distinguishing nor connected follow from previous Q-Axioms and this definition of O-Topology.
Axiom 6.7-9
axiom VI 7-8
We claim connectivity in a stronger form: all Lines shall be topologically connected, a necessary condition if we would like to have Lines as continuous images of paths (as continuous mappings of [0,1]), essential for the Hawking-Topology.  The connectivity in Q was already established in Axiom 5. 

Similar we claim that the open filter-sets Ux form a base for the neighborhood-filter Ox and hence for the whole topology O.

Axiom 6.9 encodes a center piece of GRT: the cone formed by open time-like curves through a point is open (4). Whence automatically satisfied in countable and finite cases, it was much harder to find as essential axiom for the other Q-structures. We will introduce a model to discuss this in the next post.

Finally, just for the sake of consistency in our definitions:
Lemma A 18
lemma 16
that is l-closed w.r.t. lines and close w.r.t. the topology have the same meaning.

This ends the presentation of Axiom 6.

1 S. W. Hawking A.R. King and P. J. McCarthy, A new topology for curved space-time which incorporates the causal, differential and conformal structures Journal of Mathematical Physics Vol. 17, No 2, February 1976
2 K. Martin and P. Panangaden. Spacetime topology from causality
arXiv:gr-qc/0407093v1
3 K. Martin and P. Panangaden. A domain of spacetime intervals in general relativity arXiv:gr-qc/0407094v1
4 Stephen Hawking, Roger Penrose, The Nature of Space and Time, Princeton University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-691-05084-8