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Why Yang-Mills theories?

Guay, Alexandre (2006) Why Yang-Mills theories? In: UNSPECIFIED. (Unpublished)

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    Abstract

    The elucidation of the gauge principle ``is the most pressing problem in current philosophy of physics" Redhead. This paper argues two points that contribute to this elucidation in the context of Yang-Mills theories. 1) Yang-Mills theories, including quantum electrodynamics, form a class. They should be interpreted together. To focus on electrodynamics is a mistake. 2) The essential role of gauge and BRST surplus is to provide a local theory that can be quantized and would be equivalent to the quantization of the non-local reduced theory.

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    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
    Additional Information: Paper presented to the 2006 Annual Conference of the British Society for the Philosophy of Science.
    Keywords: gauge theory, Yang-Mills theory,
    Subjects: Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
    Specific Sciences > Physics
    Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory
    Depositing User: Alexandre Guay
    Date Deposited: 11 Jul 2006
    Last Modified: 07 Oct 2010 11:14
    Item ID: 2825
    Public Domain: Yes
    Conference Date: July 6-7
    Conference Location: University of Southampton
    URI: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/2825

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