Related papers: Gauge Defects
We discuss a general method of revealing both space-space and space-time noncommuting structures in various models in particle mechanics exhibiting reparametrisation symmetry. Starting from the commuting algebra in the conventional gauge,…
The personal and scientific history of the discovery of spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories is outlined and its scientific content is reviewed
The association of broken symmetries with phase transitions is ubiquitous in condensed matter physics: crystals break translational symmetry, magnets break rotational symmetry, and superconductors break gauge symmetry. However, despite 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…
Position and momentum enter at the same level of importance in the formulation of classical or quantum mechanics. This is reflected in the invariance of Poisson brackets or quantum commutators under canonical transformations, which I regard…
There is solid consensus among physicists and philosophers that, in gauge field theory, for a quantity to be physically meaningful or real, it must be gauge-invariant. Yet, every "elementary" field in the Standard Model of particle physics…
Symmetry is one of the most general and useful concepts in physics. A theory or a system that has a symmetry is fundamentally constrained by it. The same constraints do not apply when the symmetry is broken. The quantitative determination…
Gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions whose gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken to a finite group enjoy a quantum group symmetry which includes the residual gauge symmetry. This symmetry provides a framework in which fundamental excitations…
When gauging a $(d-1)$-form symmetry in $d$ spacetime dimensions, one formally expects the gauged theory to carry a dual $-1$-form symmetry. This work focuses on the study of such symmetries, in particular via the spacetime-filling…
A geometric mechanism that may, in analogy to similar notions in physics, be considered as "symmetry breaking" in geometry is described, and several instances of this mechanism in differential geometry are discussed: it is shown how…
When a symmetry gets spontaneously broken in a phase transition, topological defects are typically formed. The theoretical picture of how this happens in a breakdown of a global symmetry, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, is well established and…
We motivate the concept of emergent gauge symmetry and discuss ways that this concept can be tested. The key idea is that if a symmetry is emergent, one should look for small violations of this symmetry because the underlying fundamental…
Gauge symmetries generally appear as a constraint algebra, under which one expects all physical states to be singlets. However, quantum anomalies and boundary conditions introduce central charges and change this picture, thus causing…
We study duality defects in 2+1d theories with $\bZ^{(0)}_N\times\bZ^{(1)}_N$ global symmetry and trivial mixed 't Hooft anomaly. By gauging these symmetries simultaneously in half of the spacetime, we define duality defects for theories…
A new mechanism for symmetry breaking is proposed which naturally avoids the constraints following from the usual theorems of symmetry breaking. In the context of super-symmetry, for example, the breaking may be consistent with a vanishing…
In this paper, we explore the algebraic and geometric structures that arise from a procedure we dub "gauging the gauge", which involves the promotion of a certain global, coordinate independent symmetry to a local one. By gauging the global…
It is proposed that an event that constitutes a quantum measurement corresponds to the spontaneous breaking of a symmetry in the measuring device over time.
We show that classical U(infinity) gauge theories can be obtained from the dimensional reduction of a certain class of higher-derivative theories. In general, the exact symmetry is attained in the limit of degenerate metric; otherwise, the…
Non-invertible symmetries have by now seen numerous constructions in higher dimensional Quantum Field Theories (QFT). In this paper we provide an in depth study of gauging 0-form symmetries in the presence of non-invertible symmetries. The…
The theory of symmetry breaking in presence of gauge fields is presented, following the historical track. Particular emphasis is placed upon the underlying concepts.