Finite-Precision Algebraic Quantum Field Theory

Abstract

Recent work introduced Interval Quantum Mechanics (IQM), a finite-precision framework in which physical information is represented by sets of possible states rather than exact states. We extend this approach to algebraic quantum field theory (AQFT) by introducing Interval Algebraic Quantum Field Theory (IAQFT), whose basic objects are quantum parcels: weak* open convex regions of state space encoding finite-precision information obtained from finitely many local observations. We develop parcel reduction and measurement update, establish finite-dimensional information-contraction results, and formulate locality through compatible parcel nets. Major structural features of AQFT are recast in parcel-theoretic terms, including the Reeh--Schlieder property, Haag's theorem, modular theory, the KMS condition, and the Unruh effect. We show that spacelike vacuum correlations and strict Bell violations persist under finite precision, and that lattice approximations are compatible with the parcel framework. Finally, we recover the Murray--von Neumann classification of factors together with the trace and projection equivalence in Type~$\mathrm{II}_1$ factors from the geometry of limiting parcels. IAQFT thus provides a unified finite-precision formulation of the operational, modular, and operator-algebraic structures of relativistic quantum theory.