Related papers: Same-diff? Conceptual similarities between gauge t…
Gauge symmetries play a central role, both in the mathematical foundations as well as the conceptual construction of modern (particle) physics theories. However, it is yet unclear whether they form a necessary component of theories, or…
We consider the deformation theory of two kinds of geometric objects: foliations on one hand, pre-symplectic forms on the other. For each of them, we prove that the geometric notion of equivalence given by isotopies agrees with the…
We argue that, ideally, the ways to measure magnitudes in non-quantum theories of physics (spacetime, field theory), limit drastically their possible mathematical models. In particular, gauge invariance in the Yang-Mills framework, is a…
In this essay I begin to lay out a conceptual scheme for: (i) analysing dualities as cases of theoretical equivalence; (ii) assessing when cases of theoretical equivalence are also cases of physical equivalence. The scheme is applied to…
Starting from a knowledge of certain identities in the Lagrangian description, the diffeomorphism transformations of metric and connection are obtained for both the second order (metric) and the first order (Palatini) formulations of…
It might seem that a choice of a time coordinate in Hamiltonian formulations of general relativity breaks the full four-dimensional diffeomorphism covariance of the theory. This is not the case. We construct explicitly the complete set of…
In recent years it has been shown that many, and possibly all, integrable systems can be obtained by dimensional reduction of self-dual Yang-Mills. I show how the integrable systems obtained this way naturally inherit bihamiltonian…
Supersymmetry and Yang-Mills type gauge invariance are two of the essential properties of most, and possibly the most important models in fundamental physics. Supersymmetry is nearly trivial to prove in the (traditionally…
Gauge symmetries emerge from a redundant description of the effective action for light degrees of freedom after the decoupling of heavy modes. This redundant description avoids the use of explicit constraints in configuration space. For…
Compactified Yang-Mills theories with one universal extra dimension were found [arXiv:1008.4638] to exhibit two types of gauge invariances: the standard gauge transformations (SGTs) and the nonstandard gauge transformations (NSGTs). In the…
Diffeomorphisms and an internal symmetry (e.g., local Lorentz invariance) are typically regarded as the symmetries of any geometrical gravity theory, including general relativity. In the first-order formalism, diffeomorphisms can be thought…
Gauge symmetries lead to first-class constraints. This assertion is of course true only for non trivial gauge symmetries, i.e., gauge symmetries that act non trivially on-shell on the dynamical variables. We illustrate this well-appreciated…
A generalized symmetry of a system of differential equations is an infinitesimal transformation depending locally upon the fields and their derivatives which carries solutions to solutions. We classify all generalized symmetries of the…
We review work on `decomposition,' a property of two-dimensional theories with 1-form symmetries and, more generally, d-dimensional theories with (d-1)-form symmetries. Decomposition is the observation that such quantum field theories are…
A systematic analysis of the symmetries of topological 3D gravity with torsion and a cosmological term, in the first order formalism, has been performed in details - both in the hamiltonian and lagrangian formalisms. This illuminates the…
The fundamental symmetries in gravity and gauge theories, formulated using differential forms, are gauge transformations and diffeomorphisms. These symmetries act in distinct ways on different dynamical fields. Yet, the commutator of these…
Gauging and duality transformations, two of the most useful tools in many-body physics, are shown to be equivalent up to constant depth quantum circuits in the case of one-dimensional quantum lattice models. This is demonstrated by making…
We study generalized symmetries in a simplified arena in which the usual quantum field theories of physics are replaced with topological field theories and the smooth structure with which the symmetry groups of physics are usually endowed…
The paper considers the "GR-desideratum", that is, the way general relativity implements general covariance, diffeomorphism invariance, and background independence. Two cases are discussed where $5$-dimensional generalizations of general…
Shape dynamics is a classical theory of gravity which agrees with general relativity in many important cases, but possesses different gauge symmetries and constraints. Rather than spacetime diffeomorphism invariance, shape dynamics takes…