Teh, Nicholas (2012) Gravity and Gauge. [Preprint]

Preview

PDF Gravity_and_Gauge.pdf Download (467kB)

Abstract

Philosophers of physics and physicists have long been intrigued by the analogies and disanalogies between gravitational theories and (Yang-Mills-type) gauge theories. Indeed, repeated attempts to col- lapse these disanalogies have made us acutely aware that there are fairly general obstacles to doing so. Nonetheless, there is a special case (viz. that of (2+1) spacetime dimensions) in which gravity is often claimed to be identical to a gauge theory. We subject this claim to philosophical scrutiny in this paper: in particular, we (i) analyze how the standard disanalogies can be overcome in (2+1) dimensions, and (ii) consider whether (i) really licenses the interpretation of (2+1) gravity as a gauge theory. Our conceptual analysis reveals more subtle disanalogies between gravity and gauge, and connects these to interpretive issues in classical and quantum gravity.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Teh, Nicholas nicholas.teh@cs.ox.ac.uk
Keywords:	gravity, gauge theory, philosophy of spacetime, general relativity, Chern-Simons theory
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Depositing User:	Dr Nicholas Teh
Date Deposited:	23 Apr 2012 14:07
Last Modified:	23 Apr 2012 14:07
Item ID:	9098
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Date:	April 2012
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9098

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item