English

Groupthink and the blunder of the gauges

General Physics 2014-12-09 v4 Classical Physics

Abstract

We address the issue of the fallacy of the gauge concept in electromagnetism. The role of groupthink in the perpetuation of this concept in the physics literature is also discussed. Brief, elementary arguments suffice to demonstrate the fallacy. The simplicity of the proofs indicates that the norms of the scientific method have been neglected on this topic.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0912.2977,
  title  = {Groupthink and the blunder of the gauges},
  author = {Paul J Cote and Mark A Johnson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0912.2977},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

This paper has been withdrawn because the subject is now included in a more comprehensive treatment of the topic in arXiv:0903.4104, New perspectives on classical electromagnetism