I've given no thought to unifying these three areas or
layering them in any obvious way. I'd be interested in any
thoughts you have on the subject.
For quantum physics I'm working my way through
Nielsen "Quantum Computation and Quantum Information" and
Mermin "Quantum Computer Science"
I want to be able to use the bra-ket notation. The underlying
unitary matrix computations don't seem all that intimidating.
I think this could be a separate package with operators
like a Hadamard gate, etc. I've written a couple programs for
IBM's online quantum computer so I think I understand some
of the issues. I'm looking at quantum simulator code on github
with the thought that the simulator could be embedded in the
underlying lisp so quantum programs could be "run" in Axiom.
I've looked at Kaku's book on Quantum Field Theory but
I'm afraid that relativistic physics is a much longer climb.
Renormalization leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling
and I don't understand a lot of it.
For classical physics I think a reasonable approach might be
the "cookbook" files introduced this summer. The idea is to
create "application notes" (cookbooks) that focus on working
out a particular example, ala "worked out homework problems
using Axiom". The cookbooks are literate programs constructed
at build time.
For Clifford Algebra I'm working my way through 2 books,
Dorst "Geometric Algebra for Computer Science"
Sommer "Geometric Computing with Clifford Algebras"
I have worked in both computer vision and robotics so the
chapters on vision and kinematics are things I'd like to
implement. The scalar/vector/bivector/trivector representation
seems to fit naturally into a record. The calculations amount to
a lot of book-keeping which Axiom could easily automate. I'd
also like to be able to implement the higher tensor products.
I do plan to look at what you've already implemented but first
I want to understand the area enough to be able to implement
the code (see previous emails). Once I think I understand
I'll see what you've already done.
For geometry it falls under "Geometric Algebra". Sommer
Chapter 4 is on "A Universal Model for Conformal Geometries of
Euclidean, Spherical, and Double-Hyperbolic Spaces". I don't think
geometry is a separate subject in this formulation.
So the real question might be "Can I formulate my physics in
matrix and tensors and shift between them". Which leads to the
question "Can I easily convert between matrices and tensors?"
From what I've seen so far this should be possible, provided it is
implemented properly. The CA wedge product is just the basis
vectors times the determinant so you might have to specify the
Tim