Related papers: Demystifying Gauge Symmetry
The aim of the present article is to describe the symmetry structure of a general gauge (singular) theory, and, in particular, to relate the structure of gauge transformations with the constraint structure of a theory in the Hamiltonian…
The underlying mathematical structures of gauge theories are known to be geometrical in nature and the local and global features of this geometry have been studied for a long time in mathematics under the name of fibre bundles. It is now…
A local gauge symmetry can not possibly be a mere redundancy of the description, provided that 1. charge is nonzero. 2. we also consider divergent gauge transformations, whose brackets with local transformations contain global charge…
The idea of gauging (i.e. making local) symmetries of a physical system is a central feature of many modern field theories. Usually, one starts with a Lagrangian for some scalar or spinor matter fields, with the Lagrangian being invariant…
We describe symmetry structure of a general singular theory (theory with constraints in the Hamiltonian formulation), and, in particular, we relate the structure of gauge transformations with the constraint structure. We show that any…
Gauge symmetry plays a key role in our description of subatomic matter. The vanishing photon mass, the long-ranged Coulomb law, and asymptotic freedom are all due to gauge invariance. Recent years have seen tantalizing progress in the…
The following questions are germane to our understanding of gauge-(in)variant quantities and physical possibility: how are gauge transformations and spacetime diffeomorphisms understood as symmetries, in which ways are they similar, and in…
One of the central concepts in modern theoretical physics, gauge symmetry, is typically realised by lifting a finite-dimensional global symmetry group of a given functional to an infinite-dimensional local one by extending the functional to…
We discuss some aspects of the relation between dualities and gauge symmetries. Both of these ideas are of course multi-faceted, and we confine ourselves to making two points. Both points are about dualities in string theory, and both have…
In these lectures, I discuss the role of symmetries in particle physics. I begin by discussing global symmetries and show that they can be realized differently in nature, depending on whether or not the vacuum state is left invariant by the…
We analyze how gauge fixing, which is required by any practical continuum approach to gauge systems, can interfere with the physical symmetries of such systems. In principle, the gauge fixing procedure, which deals with the (unphysical)…
Gauge theory underpins the quantum field theories of the standard model, and in a previous paper was shown via a geometric approach to describe classical electromagnetism in a form which approximates QED. Here we formalize and generalize…
Gauge symmetries play a fundamental role in Physics, as they provide a mathematical justification for the fundamental forces. Usually, one starts from a non-interactive theory which governs `matter', and features a global symmetry. One then…
It might be expected that only global symmetries are fundamental symmetries of Nature, whereas local symmetries and associated massless gauge fields could solely emerge due to spontaneous breaking of underlying spacetime symmetries…
The emergent gauge theories are reconsidered in light of supersymmetry and an appropriate emergence conjecture is formulated. Accordingly, it might be expected that only global symmetries are fundamental symmetries of Nature, whereas local…
A fundamental tenet of gauge theory is that physical quantities should be gauge-invariant. This prompts the question: can gauge symmetries have physical significance? On one hand, the Noether theorems relate conserved charges to symmetries,…
In these lectures I review the status of gravity from the point of view of the gauge principle and renormalization, the main tools in the toolbox of theoretical particle physics. In the first lecture I start from the old question "in what…
This paper explicates the direct empirical significance (DES) of symmetries in gauge theory, with comparisons to classical mechanics. Given a physical system composed of subsystems, such significance is to be awarded to physical differences…
One of the biggest revelations of 20th century physics, is virtually unheard of outside the inner circles of particle physics. This is the gauge theory, the foundation for how all physical interactions are described and a guiding principle…
When joined the unified gauge picture of fundamental interactions, the gravitation theory leads to geometry of a space-time which is far from simplicity of pseudo-Riemannian geometry of Einstein's General Relativity. This is geometry of the…