A Tutorial on Knots and Quantum Mechanics
Abstract
These notes review a description of quantum mechanics in terms of the topology of spaces, basing on the axioms of Topological Quantum Field Theory and path integral formalism. In this description quantum states and operators are encoded by the topology of spaces that are used as modules to build the quantum mechanical model, while expectation values and probabilities are given by topological invariants of spaces, knots and links. The notes focus on the specific way the topology encodes quantum mechanical features, or, equivalently, on how these features can be controlled through the topology. A topological classification of entanglement is discussed, as well as properties of entanglement entropy and basic quantum protocols. The primary aim is to build a less conventional diagrammatic intuition about quantum mechanics, expanding the paradigm of ``Quantum Picturalism".
Cite
@article{arxiv.2503.08846,
title = {A Tutorial on Knots and Quantum Mechanics},
author = {Dmitry Melnikov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.08846},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
51 pages, 5 figures, many diagrams. Based on lectures given at the IV Patricio Letelier School on Mathematical Physics. In this version the expressions for R and U matrices in section 2.4 have been corrected to provide a compatible set of formulas