categories: quantum cats

[baez@math.ucr.edu]

Quantum cats?  I assume we're not talking about Schrodinger's....

"Al Vilcius" <avilcius@webpearls.com> writes:

> Plus there is of course the fantastic n-category approach of John Baez
>  http://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/
> but I have no idea yet of how this relates to QM (any hints?).

I got interested in n-categories precisely because I think they'll
shed a lot of light on quantum gravity!  Here are some papers where
I try to explain why:

Higher-dimensional algebra and topological quantum field theory, 
with James Dolan, Jour. Math. Phys. 36 (1995), 6073-6105.
(Not available electronically, since it contains lots of 
hand-drawn pictures.)

Higher-dimensional algebra II: 2-Hilbert spaces, 
Adv. Math. 127 (1997), 125-189.  Available as 
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/q-alg/9609018

Higher-dimensional algebra and Planck-scale physics, 
in Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale, 
eds. Craig Callender and Nick Huggett, Cambridge U. Press, 2001.
Available as http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/gr-qc/9902017