English

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