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A Puzzle About General Covariance and Gauge

Authors :
March, Eleanor
Weatherall, James Owen
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

We consider two simple criteria for when a physical theory should be said to be "generally covariant", and we argue that these criteria are not met by Yang-Mills theory, even on geometric formulations of that theory. The reason, we show, is that the bundles encountered in Yang-Mills theory are not natural bundles; instead, they are gauge-natural. We then show how these observations relate to previous arguments about the significance of solder forms in assessing disanalogies between general relativity and Yang-Mills theory. We conclude by suggesting that general covariance is really about functoriality.<br />Comment: 26 pages, no figures

Details

Database :
arXiv
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.2405.03906
Document Type :
Working Paper