This is a review of recent results regarding the application of Connes' noncommutative geometry to the Standard Model, and beyond. By twisting (in the sense of Connes-Moscovici) the spectral triple of the Standard Model, one does not only get an extra scalar field which stabilises the electroweak vacuum, but also an unexpected 1-form field. By computing the fermionic action, we show how this field induces a transition from the Euclidean to the Lorentzian signature. Hints on a twisted version of the spectral action are also briefly mentioned.
We present the notion of temporal Lorentzian spectral triple which is an extension of the notion of pseudo-Riemannian spectral triple with a way to ensure that the signature of the metric is Lorentzian. A temporal Lorentzian spectral triple corresponds to a specific 3+1 decomposition of a possibly noncommutative Lorentzian space. This structure introduces a notion of global time in noncommutative geometry. As an example, we construct a temporal Lorentzian spectral triple over a Moyal--Minkowski spacetime. We show that, when time is commutative, the algebra can be extended to unbounded elements…
This thesis concerns the research on a Lorentzian generalization of Alain Connes' noncommutative geometry. In the first chapter, we present an introduction to noncommutative geometry within the context of unification theories. The second chapter is dedicated to the basic elements of noncommutative geometry as the noncommutative integral, the Riemannian distance function and spectral triples. In the last chapter, we investigate the problem of the generalization to Lorentzian manifolds. We present a first step of generalization of the distance function with the use of a global timelike eikonal c…
We present examples of equivariant noncommutative Lorentzian spectral geometries. The equivariance with respect to a compact isometry group (or quantum group) allows to construct the algebraic data of a version of spectral triple geometry adapted to the situation of an indefinite metric. The spectrum of the equivariant Dirac operator is calculated.
We study a noncommutative analogue of a spacetime foliated by spacelike hypersurfaces, in both Riemannian and Lorentzian signatures. First, in the classical commutative case, we show that the canonical Dirac operator on the total spacetime can be reconstructed from the family of Dirac operators on the hypersurfaces. Second, in the noncommutative case, the same construction continues to make sense for an abstract family of spectral triples. In the case of Riemannian signature, we prove that the construction yields in fact a spectral triple, which we call a product spectral triple. In the case o…
We show how the twisting of spectral triples induces a transition from an euclidean to a lorentzian noncommutative geometry, at the level of the fermionic action. More specifically, we compute the fermionic action for the twisting of a closed euclidean manifold, then that of a two-sheet euclidean manifold, and finally the twisting of the spectral triple of electrodynamics in euclidean signature. We obtain the Weyl and the Dirac equations in lorentzian signature (and in the temporal gauge). The twisted fermionic action is then shown to be invariant under an action of the Lorentz group. This per…
We show how twisting the spectral triple of the Standard Model of elementary particles naturally yields the Krein space associated with the Lorentzian signature of spacetime. We discuss the associated spectral action, both for fermions and bosons. What emerges is a tight link between twist and Wick rotation.
We extend twisted inner fluctuations to twisted spectral triples that do not meet the twisted first-order condition, following what has been done in [6] for the non-twisted case. We find a similar non-linear term in the fluctuation, and work out the twisted version of the semi-group of inner perturbations.
After a brief review on the applications of twisted spectral triples to physics, we adapt to the twisted case the notion of real part of a spectral triple. In particular, when one twists a usual spectral triple by its grading, we show that - depending on the $KO$ dimension - the real part is either twisted as well, or is the intersection of the initial algebra with its opposite. We illustrate this result with the spectral triple of the standard model.
Lowest dimensional spectral triples with twisted reality condition over the function algebra on two points are discussed. The gauge perturbations (fluctuations), chiral gauge perturbations, conformal rescalings, and permutation of the two points are presented.
We extend to twisted spectral triples the fluctuations of the metric, as well as their gauge transformations. The former are bounded perturbations of the Dirac operator that arise when a spectral triple is exported between Morita equivalent algebras; the later are obtained by the action of the unitary endomorphisms of the module implementing the Morita equivalence. It is shown that the twisted gauged Dirac operators, previously introduced to generate an extra scalar field in the spectral description of the standard model of elementary particles, in fact follow from Morita equivalence between t…
Grand symmetry models in noncommutative geometry have been introduced to explain how to generate minimally (i.e. without adding new fermions) an extra scalar field beyond the standard model, which both stabilizes the electroweak vacuum and makes the computation of the mass of the Higgs compatible with its experimental value. In this paper, we use Connes-Moscovici twisted spectral triples to cure a technical problem of the grand symmetry, that is the appearance together with the extra scalar field of unbounded vectorial terms. The twist makes these terms bounded and - thanks to a twisted versio…
In the noncommutative geometry approach to the standard model we discuss the possibility to derive the extra scalar field sv- initially suggested by particle physicist to stabilize the electroweak vacuum - from a "grand algebra" that contains the usual standard model algebra. We introduce the Connes-Moscovici twisted spectral triples for the Grand Symmetry model, to cure a technical problem, that is the appearance, together with the field sv, of unbounded vectorial terms. The twist makes these terms bounded, and also permits to understand the breaking making the computation of the Higgs mass c…
Twisted real structures are well-motivated as a way to implement the conformal transformation of a Dirac operator for a real spectral triple without needing to twist the noncommutative 1-forms. We study the coupling of spectral triples with twisted real structures to gauge fields, adopting Morita equivalence via modules and bimodules as a guiding principle and paying special attention to modifications to the inner fluctuations of the Dirac operator. In particular, we analyse the twisted first-order condition as a possible alternative to abandoning the first-order condition in order to go beyon…
We study the twisted reality condition of Math. Phys. Anal. Geom. 19 (2016),no. 3, Art. 16, for spectral triples, in particular with respect to the product and the commutant. Motivated by this we present the procedure, which allows one to "untwist" the twisted spectral triples studied in Lett. Math. Phys. 106 (2016), 1499-1530. We also relate this construction to conformally rescaled real twisted spectral triples, and discuss the untwisting of the `minimal twist' procedure of an even spectral triple.
We propose a new approach to study coideal algebras. It is well-known that Manin triples (or equivalently Lie bi-algebra structures) are the requirement to deform Lie algebras and to obtain quantum groups. In this paper, introducing some particular automorphisms of Manin triples, we define new structures that we call Lie bi-ideal structures. A link with coisotropic subalgebras is explained. We show that their deformation provide coideal algebras. As examples, we recover from our general construction the twisted Yangians, the q-Onsager algebra and the augmented q-Onsager algebra. As an importan…
We study the "quantized calculus" corresponding to the algebraic ideas related to "twisted cyclic cohomology" introduced in [KMT]. With very similar definitions and techniques as those used in [jlo], we define and study "twisted entire cyclic cohomology" and the "twisted Chern character" associated with an appropriate operator-theoretic data called "twisted spectral data", which consists of a spectral triple in the conventional sense of noncommutative geometry ([Con]) and an additional positive operator having specified properties. Furthermore, it is shown that given a spectral triple (in the …
Motivated by examples obtained from conformal deformations of spectral triples and a spectral triple construction on quantum cones we propose a new twisted reality condition for the Dirac operator.
We consider the wave operator on static, Lorentzian manifolds with timelike boundary and we discuss the existence of advanced and retarded fundamental solutions in terms of boundary conditions. By means of spectral calculus we prove that answering this question is equivalent to studying the self-adjoint extensions of an associated elliptic operator on a Riemannian manifold with boundary $(M,g)$. The latter is diffeomorphic to any, constant time hypersurface of the underlying background. In turn, assuming that $(M,g)$ is of bounded geometry, this problem can be tackled within the framework of b…
The subject of this PhD thesis is noncommutative geometry - more specifically spectral triples - and how it can be generalized to semi-Riemannian manifolds generally, and Lorentzian manifolds in particular. The first half of this thesis will thus be dedicated to the transition from Riemannian to semi-Riemannian manifolds. This entails a study of Clifford algebras for indefinite vector spaces and Spin structures on semi-Riemannian manifolds. An important consequence of this is the introduction of Krein spaces, which will enable us to generalize spectral triples to indefinite spectral triples. I…
We describe a technique to study the asymptotics of SL(2,C) invariant tensors associated to graphs, with unitary irreps and lowest SU(2) spins, and apply it to the Lorentzian EPRL-KKL (Engle, Pereira, Rovelli, Livine; Kaminski, Kieselowski, Lewandowski) model of quantum gravity. We reproduce the known asymptotics of the 4-simplex graph with a different perspective on the geometric variables and introduce an algorithm valid for any graph. On general grounds, we find that critical configurations are not just Regge geometries, but a larger set corresponding to conformal twisted geometries. These …
We construct new families of spectral triples over quantum spheres, with a particular attention focused on the standard Podles quantum sphere and twisted Dirac operators.
An interesting feature of the finite-dimensional real spectral triple (A,H,D,J) of the Standard Model is that it satisfies a ``second-order'' condition: conjugation by J maps the Clifford algebra Cl_D(A) into its commutant, which in fact is isomorphic to the Clifford algebra itself (H is a self-Morita equivalence Cl_D(A)-bimodule). This resembles a property of the canonical spectral triple of a closed oriented Riemannian manifold: there is a dense subspace of H which is a self-Morita equivalence Cl_D(A)-bimodule. In this paper we argue that on manifolds, in order for the self-Morita equivalenc…
Motivated by the space of spinors on a Lorentzian manifold, we define Krein spectral triples, which generalise spectral triples from Hilbert spaces to Krein spaces. This Krein space approach allows for an improved formulation of the fermionic action for almost-commutative manifolds. We show by explicit calculation that this action functional recovers the correct Lagrangians for the cases of electrodynamics, the electro-weak theory, and the Standard Model. The description of these examples does not require a real structure, unless one includes Majorana masses, in which case the internal spaces …
We pursue the idea of constructing higher spin fields as solutions to twisted Dirac operators. As general results we find that twisted prenormally hyperbolic first order operators (such as the Dirac operator) on globally hyperbolic Lorentzian spacetime manifolds have unique advanced and retarded Green's functions and their Cauchy problem is well-posed. The space of compactly supported Cauchy data can be equipped with a naturally induced Hermitian but generally indefinite product, which is shown to be independent of the underlying choice of Cauchy hypersurface. As a special result, we study one…
We systematically investigate ways to twist a real spectral triple via an algebra automorphism and in particular, we naturally define a twisted partner for any real graded spectral triple. Among other things we investigate consequences of the twisting on the fluctuations of the metric and possible applications to the spectral approach to the standard model of particle physics.
We present a spectral triple for $κ$-Minkowski space in two dimensions. Starting from an algebra naturally associated to this space, a Hilbert space is built using a weight which is invariant under the $κ$-Poincaré algebra. The weight satisfies a KMS condition and its associated modular operator plays an important role in the construction. This forces us to introduce two ingredients which have a modular flavor: the first is a twisted commutator, used to obtain a boundedness condition for the Dirac operator, the second is a weight replacing the usual operator trace, used to measure the growth o…
We generalize the notion of spectral triple with reality structure to spectral triples with multitwisted real structure, the class of which is closed under the tensor product composition. In particular, we introduce a multitwisted order one condition (characterizing the Dirac operators as an analogue of first-order differential operator). This provides a unified description of the known examples, which include rescaled triples with the conformal factor from the commutant of the algebra and (on the algebraic level) triples on quantum disc and on quantum cone, that satisfy twisted first order co…
With the bare essentials of noncommutative geometry (defined by a spectral triple), we first describe how it naturally gives rise to gauge theories. Then, we quickly review the notion of twisting (in particular, minimally) noncommutative geometries and how it induces a Wick rotation, that is, a transition of the metric signature from euclidean to Lorentzian. We focus on comparatively more tractable examples of spectral triples; such as the ones corresponding to a closed Riemannian spin manifold, $U(1)$ gauge theory, and electrodynamics. By minimally twisting these examples and computing their …
We extend the construction of a spectral triple for k-Minkowski space, previously given for the two-dimensional case, to the general n-dimensional case. This takes into account the modular group naturally arising from the symmetries of the geometry, and requires the use of notions that have been recently developed in the frameworks of twisted and modular spectral triples. First we compute the spectral dimension, using an appropriate weight, and show that in general it coincides with the classical one. We also study the classical limit and the analytic continuation of the associated zeta functi…
