Developments in noncommutative differential geometry

Abstract

One of the great outstanding problems of theoretical physics is the quantisation of gravity, and an associated description of quantum spacetime. It is often argued that, at short distances, the manifold structure of spacetime breaks down and is replaced by some sort of algebraic structure. Noncommutative geometry is a possible candidate for the mathematics of this structure. However, physical theories on noncommutative spaces are still essentially classical and need to be quantised. We present a path integral formalism for quantising gravity in the form of the spectral action. Our basic principle is to sum over all Dirac operators. The approach is demonstrated on two simple finite noncommutative geometries (the two-point space and the matrix geometry M(_2)(C)) and a circle. In each case, we start with the partition function and calculate the graviton propagator and Greens functions. The expectation values of distances are also evaluated. We find on the finite noncommutative geometries, distances shrink with increasing graviton excitations, while on a circle, they grow. A comparison is made with Rovelli's canonical quantisation approach, and with his idea of spectral path integrals. We also briefly discuss the quantisation of a general Riemannian manifold. Included, is a comprehensive overview of the homological aspects of noncommutative geometry. In particular, we cover the index pairing between K-theory and K-homology, KK-theory, cyclic homology/cohomology, the Chern character and the index theorem. We also review the various field theories on noncommutative geometries.