Symmetry breaking in gauge theories -- an attempt to clarify

par Simon Friederich (Universität Wuppertal)

lundi 21 nov. 2011, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Paris

Amphithéâtre (CPPM)

The spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetries in gauge theories is looked at from a philosophical angle. Local gauge symmetry itself cannot break spontaneously in quantized gauge theories according to Elitzur's theorem---even though the notion of a spontaneously broken local gauge symmetry is often employed in textbook expositions of the Higgs mechanism. Nevertheless, gauge symmetry can be broken in gauge theories, namely, in the form of the breaking of remnant subgroups of the original local gauge group under which the theories typically remain invariant after gauge fixing. The relation between these instances of symmetry breaking and phase transitions is discussed and some more general conclusions for the philosophical interpretation of gauge symmetries and their breaking are drawn.

Slides simon2011.pdf