Why are noncommutative nonassociative Hopf algebras called quantum groups? This seems to be a purely mathematical notion and there is no quantum anywhere in it prima facie.
Why are Hopf algebras called quantum groups?
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0@Akhil: Thanks. I went and looked and didn't see a sufficient explanation. – 2010-07-28
2 Answers
One way that Hopf algebras come up is as the algebra of (real or complex) functions on a topological group. The multiplication is commutative since it is just pointwise multiplication of functions. However, in non-commutative geometry you want to replace the algebra of functions on a space with a non-commutative algebra, giving a non-commutative Hopf algebra.
This relates to quantum mechanics because there the analog of the classical coordinate functions of position and momentum do not commute. Therefore we think of the algebra of functions on a quantum "space" as being non-commutative.
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0@Mariano, I agree, and think of this as the philosophy of Serre and Grothendeick that we don't need a space, just the quasi-coherent sheaves on that space. – 2010-07-30
I cannot comment, and this should be a comment...
Observe that the question in your title and the question in the body of your question are quite different!
A non-commutative non-cocommutative Hopf algebra is not the same thing as a non-commutative group, and quantum groups are usually associative.
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1@Line Bundle: Hopf algebras can satisfy two different kinds of commutativity, one related to their multiplication and one related to their comultiplication. For ordinary algebraic groups the former is always commutative and the latter is cocommutative or noncocommutative depending on whether the group is. For quantum groups the former is not necessarily commutative; that is what the "quantum" means, to a first approximation. – 2010-07-29