Observers, local measurements, and topology
High Energy Physics - Theory
2026-07-16 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract
An observer which propagates in a spacetime with dynamical gravity has access to an algebra of observables which is expected to be a von Neumann algebra with a trace. The observer can use projections from the algebra to perform local measurements. By using this fact we construct a simplicial complex out of measurements recorded on the worldline of the observer and we propose that such a complex captures topological information about spacetime, even when this is fluctuating.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2607.15007,
title = {Observers, local measurements, and topology},
author = {Michele Cirafici},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.15007},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
30 pages, 4 figures