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The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2004 55(4):645-665; doi:10.1093/bjps/55.4.645
© 2004 by British Society for the Philosophy of Science
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Are Gauge Symmetry Transformations Observable?

Katherine Brading1 and Harvey R. Brown2

1 University of Notre Dame, Department of Philosophy, 100 Malloy Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA, Kbrading{at}nd.edu, 2 Faculty of Philosophy, 10 Merton Street, Oxford OX1 4JJ, harvey.brown{at}philosophy.ox.ac.uk

In a recent paper in this journal, Kosso ([2000]) discussed the observational status of continuous symmetries of physics. While we are in broad agreement with his approach, we disagree with his analysis. In the discussion of the status of gauge symmetry, a set of examples offered by 't Hooft ([1980]) has influenced several philosophers, including Kosso; in all cases the interpretation of the examples is mistaken. In this paper, we present our preferred approach to the empirical significance of symmetries, re-analysing the cases of gauge symmetry and general covariance.

  1. Direct and indirect empirical significance
  2. Global and local continuous symmetries
  3. Gauge symmetry
    3.1 Local gauge symmetry
    3.1.1 Discussion of the first claim
    3.1.2 Discussion of the second claim

    3.2 Global gauge symmetry

  4. Space-time symmetries
  5. Direct and indirect empirical significance again
  6. Conclusion


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