Murgueitio Ramírez, Sebastián (2020) A puzzle concerning local symmetries and their empirical significance. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. ISSN 1464-3537
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Abstract
In the last five years, the controversy about whether or not gauge transformations can be empirically significant has intensified. On the one hand, Greaves and Wallace (2014) developed a framework according to which, under some circumstances, gauge transformations can be empirically significant---and Teh (2015) further supported this result by using the Constrained Hamiltonian formalism. On the other hand, Friederich (2015, 2016) claims to have proved that gauge transformation can never be empirically significant. In this paper, I accomplish two tasks. First, I argue that there are strong reasons to resist Friederich's proof because one of its assumptions is, at the very least, highly controversial. Second, I argue that, despite criticism by Brading and Brown (2004) and Friederich (2015), 't Hooft's Beam-Splitter experiment is indeed a concrete example of a case where a local gauge symmetry has empirical significance. By shedding light on these two points, this paper shows that recent arguments that claim gauge transformations cannot be empirically significant are not satisfactory.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Symmetry gauge transformations empirical significance | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. Sebastián Murgueitio Ramírez | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 14 Mar 2020 22:46 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 14 Mar 2020 22:46 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 17002 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Fields and Particles Specific Sciences > Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Field Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances |
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| Date: | 13 March 2020 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1464-3537 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/17002 |
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A puzzle concerning local symmetries and their empirical significance. (deposited 10 Oct 2019 01:52)
- A puzzle concerning local symmetries and their empirical significance. (deposited 14 Mar 2020 22:46) [Currently Displayed]
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