Bradley, Clara (2025) Excess Structure in the Constrained Hamiltonian Formalism. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Gauge theories are often characterized as possessing ‘redundancy’ or ‘excess structure’. This, in turn, motivates reducing the gauge symmetries, commonly through ‘symplectic reduction’ in the Hamiltonian framework. However, there are multiple ways to formulate a Hamiltonian gauge theory. This paper examines the relationship between the formulation of a Hamiltonian gauge theory and the attribution of excess structure. I argue that one can formulate a Hamiltonian gauge theory such that symplectic reduction does not remove structure, and therefore that the role of symplectic reduction cannot be purely to remove ‘excess structure’. I discuss in what sense symplectic reduction is thereby motivated.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Bradley, Clara clarajbradley@gmail.com
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Depositing User:	Clara Bradley
Date Deposited:	14 Nov 2025 13:46
Last Modified:	14 Nov 2025 13:46
Item ID:	27222
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances
Date:	14 November 2025
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/27222

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