Motivating Gauge-Invariant Approaches to Particle Physics

Fuente: arXiv
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Autore principale: Berghofer, Philipp
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2024
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author Berghofer, Philipp
author_facet Berghofer, Philipp
contents There is noticeable consensus among physicists and philosophers that only gauge-invariant quantities can be physically real. However, this insight that physical quantities must be gauge-invariant is not well-reflected in standard approaches to particle physics. For instance, each and every elementary field/particle of the Standard Model fails to be gauge-invariant! The main objective of this paper is to offer an accessible, concise, and convincing analysis of why philosophers and physicists should devote more of their energy to working on gauge-invariant approaches. Correspondingly, the thesis of this paper is that pursuing gauge-invariant approaches has several virtues. For instance, gauge-invariant reformulations allow us to make particle physics consistent with the mathematical framework in which it is formulated. This is illustrated by how mathematical theorems such as Elitzur's theorem, the Gribov ambiguity, and Haag's theorem pose problems for standard approaches but are avoided by gauge-invariant approaches.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2408_11705
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Motivating Gauge-Invariant Approaches to Particle Physics
Berghofer, Philipp
History and Philosophy of Physics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
There is noticeable consensus among physicists and philosophers that only gauge-invariant quantities can be physically real. However, this insight that physical quantities must be gauge-invariant is not well-reflected in standard approaches to particle physics. For instance, each and every elementary field/particle of the Standard Model fails to be gauge-invariant! The main objective of this paper is to offer an accessible, concise, and convincing analysis of why philosophers and physicists should devote more of their energy to working on gauge-invariant approaches. Correspondingly, the thesis of this paper is that pursuing gauge-invariant approaches has several virtues. For instance, gauge-invariant reformulations allow us to make particle physics consistent with the mathematical framework in which it is formulated. This is illustrated by how mathematical theorems such as Elitzur's theorem, the Gribov ambiguity, and Haag's theorem pose problems for standard approaches but are avoided by gauge-invariant approaches.
title Motivating Gauge-Invariant Approaches to Particle Physics
topic History and Philosophy of Physics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.11705