Gomes, Henrique (2019) Holism as the significance of gauge symmetries. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Not all symmetries are on a par. For instance, within Newtonian mechanics, we seem to have a good grasp on the empirical significance of boosts, by applying it to subsystems. This is exemplified by the thought experiment known as Galileo's ship:
the inertial state of motion of a ship is immaterial to how events unfold in the cabin, but is registered in the values of relational quantities such as the distance and velocity of the ship relative to the shore.

But the significance of gauge symmetries seems less clear. For example, can gauge transformations in Yang-Mills theory---taken as mere descriptive redundancy---exhibit a similar relational empirical significance as the boosts of Galileo's ship? This question has been debated in the last fifteen years in the philosophy of physics.

I will argue that the answer is `yes'. And that underlying this `yes' answer lies the true significance of gauge symmetries: an inherent non-locality, or holism, of certain physical systems. %Paradoxically, this `true significance' is completely compatible with an interpretation of gauge as descriptive redundancy.

Holism has important implications for the relational empirical significance of gauge: in direct analogy to the boosts of Galileo's ships, in gauge theory, there are different states of joint systems whose difference is solely due to different \textit{relations} between the subsystem states composing the whole. That is, given two subsystems' physical information, the universal state obtained by the composition of the subsystems is not always uniquely determined \cite{GomesRiello_new}. While for Galileo's ship the relational variety of the joint system is encoded in boosts and translations, in gauge theory this variety has the structure of the finite-dimensional Lie group of the theory.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Gomes, Henrique gomes.ha@gmail.com 0000-0002-9285-0090
Keywords:	Gauge theory, symmetries, separability, non-locality, reduction, empirical significance of symmetries.
Subjects:	General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Depositing User:	Dr Henrique Gomes
Date Deposited:	06 Oct 2019 13:56
Last Modified:	06 Oct 2019 13:56
Item ID:	16499
Subjects:	General Issues > Determinism/Indeterminism Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Date:	1 October 2019
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/16499

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• Holism as the significance of gauge symmetries. (deposited 01 Oct 2019 18:25)
  • Holism as the significance of gauge symmetries. (deposited 03 Oct 2019 15:28)
    • Holism as the significance of gauge symmetries. (deposited 06 Oct 2019 13:56) [Currently Displayed]

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