Causality in Schwinger’s Picture of Quantum Mechanics

This paper begins the study of the relation between causality and quantum mechanics, taking advantage of the groupoidal description of quantum mechanical systems inspired by Schwinger’s picture of quantum mechanics. After identifying causal structures on groupoids with a particular class of subcategories, called causal categories accordingly, it will be shown that causal structures can be recovered from a particular class of non-selfadjoint class of algebras, known as triangular operator algebras, contained in the von Neumann algebra of the groupoid of the quantum system. As a consequence of this, Sorkin’s incidence theorem will be proved and some illustrative examples will be discussed.

Additional note on plane congruences and fifth incidence theorems

In a recent paper I discussed plane congruences of order two in [4] and obtained congruences of types (2, 6)1, (2, 6)2, (2, 5), (2, 4) and (2, 3). The method employed was due to Segre, who showed that a plane congruence of order two in [4] has in general a curve locus of singular points which is met by each plane in five points. Then, if we can find a curve in [4], composite or not, with an ∞2 system of quadrisecant planes of which two pass through an arbitrary point, the planes must all meet a residual curve, and we shall have obtained a congruence of the second order and a fifth incidence theorem.