Commutative quantum operator algebras

Abstract

A key notion bridging the gap between quantum operator algebras [26] and vertex operator algebras [4, 9] is the definition of the commutativity of a pair of quantum operators (see Section 2). This is not commutativity in any ordinary sense, but it is clearly the correct generalization to the quantum context. In [26] we give a definition of a commutative quantum operator algebra. We show in [26] that a vertex operator algebra gives rise to a special case of a CQOA. The main purpose of the current paper is to further develop the foundations for a complete mathematical theory of CQOAs. We give proofs of most of the relevant results announced in [26], and we carry out some calculations with sufficient detail to enable the interested reader to become proficient with the algebra of commuting quantum operators.