Buch, Englisch, 84 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 286 g
Buch, Englisch, 84 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 286 g
Reihe: Elements in the Philosophy of Physics
ISBN: 978-1-009-54811-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press
This Element is broadly about the geometrization of physics, but mostly it is about gauge theories. Gauge theories lie at the heart of modern physics: in particular, they constitute the Standard Model of particle physics. At its simplest, the idea of gauge is that nature is best described using a descriptively redundant language; the different descriptions are said to be related by a gauge symmetry. The over-arching question this Element aims to answer is: why is descriptive redundancy fruitful for physics? I will provide three inter-related answers to the question: ``Why gauge theory?'', that is: why introduce redundancies in our models of nature in the first place? The first is pragmatic, or methodological; the second is based on geometrical considerations, and the third is broadly relational.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Weitere Infos & Material
1. Introduction; 2. Why gauge? A Noether, methodological reason; 3. Gauge theory and the geometry of fiber bundles; 4. Why gauge? a geometrical reason; 5. The Aharonov-Bohm effect, non-locality, and non-separability; References.
