English

Quantum graphs of homomorphisms

Quantum Physics 2026-04-30 v3 Mathematical Physics Category Theory math.MP Operator Algebras

Abstract

We introduce a category qGph\mathsf{qGph} of quantum graphs, whose definition is motivated entirely from noncommutative geometry. For all quantum graphs GG and HH in qGph\mathsf{qGph}, we then construct a quantum graph [G,H][G,H] of homomorphisms from GG to HH, making qGph\mathsf{qGph} a closed symmetric monoidal category. We prove that for all finite graphs GG and HH, the quantum graph [G,H][G,H] is nonempty iff the (G,H)(G,H)-homomorphism game has a winning quantum strategy, directly generalizing the classical case. The finite quantum graphs in qGph\mathsf{qGph} are tracial, real, and self-adjoint, and the morphisms between them are CP morphisms that are adjoint to a unital *-homomorphism. We prove that Weaver's two notions of a CP morphism coincide in this context. We also include a short proof that every finite reflexive quantum graph is the confusability quantum graph of a quantum channel.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.09685,
  title  = {Quantum graphs of homomorphisms},
  author = {Andre Kornell and Bert Lindenhovius},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.09685},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

32 pages; section 6 revisits Verdon's work

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:04:40.421Z