Natural Theories

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Weatherall, James Owen, March, Eleanor
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Weatherall, James Owen
March, Eleanor
author_facet Weatherall, James Owen
March, Eleanor
contents We consider the class of physical theories whose dynamics are given by natural equations, which are partial differential equations determined by a functor from the category of n-manifolds, for some n, to the category of fiber bundles, satisfying certain further conditions. We show how the theory of natural equations clarifies several important foundational issues, including the status and meaning of minimal coupling, symmetries of theories, and background structure. We also state and prove a fundamental result about the initial value problem for natural equations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_05703
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Natural Theories
Weatherall, James Owen
March, Eleanor
History and Philosophy of Physics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
We consider the class of physical theories whose dynamics are given by natural equations, which are partial differential equations determined by a functor from the category of n-manifolds, for some n, to the category of fiber bundles, satisfying certain further conditions. We show how the theory of natural equations clarifies several important foundational issues, including the status and meaning of minimal coupling, symmetries of theories, and background structure. We also state and prove a fundamental result about the initial value problem for natural equations.
title Natural Theories
topic History and Philosophy of Physics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.05703