Lecture Review

7044:
Jason Payne ()
105091414

Lecture 1: Course Introduction

Lecture 2: Linear Algebra and Quantum Mechanics
Appendix: Categories and Quantum Mechanics
Many of the essential differences referenced above between classical mechanics and quantum
mechanics can actually be seen under a unifying light via the mathematical notion of a category.
Though, as we will soon see, the definition of a category at first glance appears quite daunting,
it is actually surprisingly intuitive and physical, seen from the right perspective.
Definition. A category C is consists of two pieces of data:
(i) A collection of objects, denoted by Cob ;
f

(ii) For each pair of objects X, Y Cob , a collection of morphisms X

Y between them,
denoted HomC (X, Y ).
Moreover, these data come equipped with the following structure:
f

(a) For any two morphisms X

Y and Y
Z with the codomain of one overlapping with
gf

the domain of the other, one can compose them to obtain a morphism X Z
HomC (X, Z). In other words, there is a map
: HomC (Y, Z) HomC (X, Y ) HomC (X, Z);
1

X
(b) For every object X Cob , there is a morphism X
X, called the identity morphism
associated with X.

Furthermore, these structures must satisfy the following properties:

(1) Composition is associative: (h g) f = h (g f ) for any composable triple of morphisms
f , g, and h;
f

(2) For any morphisms X

Y and Z
X, the identity morphism 1X satisfies:
f 1X = f

and

1X g = g.