A "general boundary" formulation for quantum mechanics and quantum gravity

I propose to formalize quantum theories as topological quantum field theories in a generalized sense, associating state spaces with boundaries of arbitrary (and possibly finite) regions of space-time. I further propose to obtain such "general boundary" quantum theories through a generalized path integral quantization. I show how both, non-relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum field theory can be given a "general boundary" formulation. Surprisingly, even in the non-relativistic case, features normally associated with quantum field theory emerge from consistency conditions. This includes states with arbitrary particle number and pair creation. I also note how three-dimensional quantum gravity is an example for a realization of both proposals and suggest to apply them to four-dimensional quantum gravity. (C) 2063 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.