Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2022
A fundamental tenet of gauge theory is that physical quantities should be gauge-invariant. This prompts the question: can gauge symmetries have physical significance? On one hand, the Noether theorems relate conserved charges to symmetries, endowing the latter with physical significance, though this significance is sometimes taken as indirect. But for theories in spatially finite and bounded regions, the standard Noether charges are not gauge-invariant. This chapter’s argument is that gauge-variance of charges is tied to the nature of the non-locality within gauge theories. It will flesh out these links by providing a chain of (local) implications: local conservation laws è conserved regional charges Ô Non-separability Ô direct empirical significance of symmetries.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.