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Gauge Invariance, Cauchy Problem, Indeterminism, and Symmetry Breaking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Chuang Liu
Chuang Liu*
Affiliation:
University of Florida
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Abstract

The concepts in the title refer to properties of physical theories (which are given, in this paper, a model-theoretic formulation and appropriate idealizations) and this paper investigates their nature and relations. The first three concepts, especially gauge invariance and indeterminism, have been widely discussed in connection to spacetime theories and the hole argument. Since the gauge invariance principle is at the crux of the issue, this paper aims at clarifying the nature of gauge invariance (either in general or as general covariance). I first explore the following chain of relations: gauge invariance => the conservation laws => the Cauchy problem => indeterminism. Then I discuss gauge invariance in light of our understanding of the above relations and the possibility of spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Type
Space-time Issues
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 63 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1996 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers Sep., 1996. , 1996 , pp. S71 - S79
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1996

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Footnotes

†

I would like to thank John Norton for discussions on the nature of gauge principles. I am also indebted to Richard Healey and J. B. Kennedy for discussion on matters related to this paper.

‡

Department of Philosophy, 330 Griffin-Floyd Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611.

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