Wick rotation and the axiomatisation of quantum field theory

I shall present joint work with Maxim Kontsevich describing an interesting
domain of complex metrics on a smooth manifold. It is a complexification of
the space of ordinary Riemannian metrics, and has the Lorentzian metrics
(but not metrics of other signatures) on its boundary. Use of the domain
leads to a modified axiom system for QFT which illuminates not only the
special role of Lorentz signature, but also of features such as local
commutativity, unitarity, and global hyperbolicity.