Quantum gauge symmetries in Noncommutative Geometry
We discuss generalizations of the notion of i) the group of unitary elements of a (real or complex) finite dimensional C*-algebra, ii) gauge transformations and iii) (real) automorphisms, in the framework of compact quantum group theory and spectral triples. The quantum analogue of these groups are defined as universal (initial) objects in some natural categories. After proving the existence of the universal objects, we discuss several examples that are of interest to physics, as they appear in the noncommutative geometry approach to particle physics: in particular, the C*-algebras M_n(R), M_n(C) and M_n(H), describing the finite noncommutative space of the Einstein-Yang-Mills systems, and the algebras A_F=C+H+M_3(C) and A^{ev}=H+H+M_4(C), that appear in Chamseddine-Connes derivation of the Standard Model of particle physics minimally coupled to gravity. As a byproduct, we identify a "free" version of the symplectic group Sp(n) (quaternionic unitary group).