Tuesday, 17 October 2006
Gauge Principle: Physically Vacuous?
Antigone Nounou, Department of Philosophy, University of Minnesota
12:05 pm, 817R Cathedral of Learning

Abstract: Purportedly, the gauge principle has been the guiding principle of the most successful physical theories of the second half of the 20th century. Yet, there are philosophers of science who claim that it is physically vacuous. If the crucifixion of a physical principle of a successful theory sounds familiar, it might be because, in the past, the principle of general covariance has also been dubbed physically vacuous. Using the lessons we have learned from the debate about general covariance alongside different formulations of gauge theories, I will re-examine the claims about the vacuity of gauge principle.