Extension of information geometry for modelling non-statistical systems

Abstract: In this dissertation, an abstract formalism extending information geometry is introduced. This framework encompasses a broad range of modelling problems, including possible applications in machine learning and in the information theoretical foundations of quantum theory. Its purely geometrical foundations make no use of probability theory and very little assumptions about the data or the models are made. Starting only from a divergence function, a Riemannian geometrical structure consisting of a metric tensor and an affine connection is constructed and its properties are investigated. Also the relation to information geometry and in particular the geometry of exponential families of probability distributions is elucidated. It turns out this geometrical framework offers a straightforward way to determine whether or not a parametrised family of distributions can be written in exponential form. Apart from the main theoretical chapter, the dissertation also contains a chapter of examples illustrating the application of the formalism and its geometric properties, a brief introduction to differential geometry and a historical overview of the development of information geometry.