The Pivotal Role of Causality in Local Quantum Physics

Abstract

In this article an attempt is made to present very recent conceptual and computational developments in QFT as new manifestations of old and well establihed physical principles. The vehicle for converting the quantum-algebraic aspects of local quantum physics into more classical geometric structures is the modular theory of Tomita. As the above named laureate to whom I have dedicated has shown together with his collaborator for the first time in sufficient generality, its use in physics goes through Einstein causality. This line of research recently gained momentum when it was realized that it is not only of structural and conceptual innovative power (see section 4), but also promises to be a new computational road into nonperturbative QFT (section 5) which, picturesquely speaking, enters the subject on the extreme opposite (noncommutative) side.

This is a updated version which has been submitted to Journal of Physics A, tcilatex 62 pages. Adress: Institut fuer Theoretische Physik FU-Berlin, Arnimallee 14, 14195 Berlin presently CBPF, Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Entanglement and Open Systems in Algebraic Quantum Field Theory
• Consistent histories and relativistic invariance in the modal interpretation of quantum mechanics
• Wigner Particle Theory and Local Quantum Physics
• Massless relativistic wave equations and quantum field theory
• On the Quantization of the Gravitational Field
• New Concepts in Particle Physics from Solution of an Old Problem
• The Renormalization of the Non-Abelian Gauge Theories in the Causal Approach