Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T13:03:59.378Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Gauge Argument

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Paul Teller
Paul Teller*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
*
†Send requests for reprints to the author, Department of Philosophy, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; e-mail: prteller@ucdavis.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the so-called “gauge argument” sometimes used by physicists to motivate the introduction of gauge fields, here facilitated by an informal exposition of the fiber bundle formalism. The discussion suggests some preliminary ways of understanding the connection between gauge fields and interactions.

Type
Philosophy of Physics and Chemistry
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 67 , Issue S3: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1998 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Sep., 2000 , 2000 , pp. S466 - S481
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

‡

Thanks particularly to Michael Redhead, Gordon Fleming, and Andrew Wayne for extensive discussion and advice. See Brown 1999 for some considerations overlapping ones presented here.

References

Brown, Harvey (1999), “Aspects of Objectivity in Quantum Mechanics”, in Butterfield, J. and Pagonis, C. (eds.), From Physics to Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 45–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaempffer, F. A. (1965), Concepts in Quantum Mechanics. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Leader, Elliot and Predazzi, Enrico (1982), An Introduction to Gauge Theories and the ‘New Physics‘. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Loll, R. (1994), “The Loop Formulation of Gauge Theory and Gravity”, in Baez, J. C. (ed.), Knots and Quantum Gravity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–19.Google Scholar
Mandi, F. and Shaw, G. (1984), Quantum Field Theory. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Moriyasu, K. (1983), An Elementary Primer for Gauge Theory. Singapore: World Scientific.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quigg, Chris (1997), Gauge Theories of the Strong, Weak, and Electromagnetic Interactions. Reading: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Ryder, Lewis H. (1985), Quantum Field Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sakurai, J. J. (1967), Advanced Quantum Mehcanics. Reading: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Schutz, Bernard (1980), Geometrical Methods of Mathematical Physics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, T. T. and Yang, C. N. (1975), “Concept of Nonintegrable Phase Factors and Global Formulation of Gauge Fields”, Physical Review D 12: 3845.Google Scholar