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RESEARCH PRODUCT
A partial elucidation of the gauge principle
Alexandre Guaysubject
HistoryBRST symmetry[SHS.DROIT] Humanities and Social Sciences/LawHigh Energy Physics::LatticeGeneral Physics and Astronomy01 natural sciences[ SHS.DROIT ] Humanities and Social Sciences/LawTheoretical physicsHigh Energy Physics::Theory[SHS.DROIT]Humanities and Social Sciences/LawHistory and Philosophy of ScienceLattice gauge theory0103 physical sciencesGauge theoryGauge principle010306 general physicsComputingMilieux_MISCELLANEOUSGauge fixingGauge symmetryPhysicsIntroduction to gauge theoryQuantum gauge theory010308 nuclear & particles physicsYang–Mills theory16. Peace & justiceBRST quantizationClassical mechanicsGauge symmetrySupersymmetric gauge theoryElucidation of the Gauge Principledescription
The elucidation of the gauge principle "is the most pressing problem in current philosophy of physics" said Michael Redhead in 2003. This paper argues for two points that contribute to this elucidation in the context of Yang–Mills theories. (1) Yang–Mills theories, including quantum electrodynamics, form a class. They should be interpreted together. To focus on electrodynamics is potentially misleading. (2) The essential role of gauge and BRST symmetries is to provide a local field theory that can be quantized and would be equivalent to the quantization of the non-local reduced theory. If this is correct, the gauge symmetry is significant, not so much because it implies ontological consequences, but because it allows us to quantize theories that we would not be able to quantize otherwise. Thus, in the context of Yang–Mills theories, it is essentially a pragmatic principle. This does not seem to be the case for the gauge symmetry in general relativity.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-05-01 |