Smoother than a circle, or How non commutative geometry provides the torus with an egocentred metric

Abstract

We give an overview on the metric aspect of noncommutative geometry, especially the metric interpretation of gauge fields via the process of "fluctuation of the metric". Connes' distance formula associates to a gauge field on a bundle P equipped with a connection H a metric. When the holonomy is trivial, this distance coincides with the horizontal distance defined by the connection. When the holonomy is non trivial, the noncommutative distance has rather surprising properties. Specifically we exhibit an elementary example on a 2-torus in which the noncommutative metric d is somehow more interesting than the horizontal one since d preserves the S^1-structure of the fiber and also guarantees the smoothness of the length function at the cut-locus. In this sense the fiber appears as an object "smoother than a circle". As a consequence, from a intrinsic metric point of view developed here, any observer whatever his position on the fiber can equally pretend to be "the center of the world".