Event

Nov 19, 2018
“A Very Serious Difficulty”: the Role of Gauge Invariance in Quantum Electrodynamics (1929–1954)

The interest in the history of gauge invariance or gauge symmetry has been predominantly focused on two disconnected moments: the early development of gauge invariance in the 1920s (H. Weyl, F. London) and the generalization of gauge invariance to non-abelian groups after 1954 (Yang-Mills). However, it is difficult to explain the initial excitement generated by Yang-Mills gauge theories (which from the beginning were plagued by the non-trivial zero-mass problem) without a closer investigation of the role played by gauge invariance in the formulations of quantum electrodynamics as a quantum field theory. This presentation will explore the role of gauge invariance in the Pauli-Heisenberg canonical formalism for the quantization of fields, and in the Schwinger covariant formalism for the evaluation of vacuum polarization.

Address

MPIWG, Harnackstraße 5, 14195 Berlin, Germany

Room
Villa, Room V005/Seminar Room
Contact and Registration
2018-11-19T14:00:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2018-11-19 14:00:00 2018-11-19 15:30:00 “A Very Serious Difficulty”: the Role of Gauge Invariance in Quantum Electrodynamics (1929–1954) The interest in the history of gauge invariance or gauge symmetry has been predominantly focused on two disconnected moments: the early development of gauge invariance in the 1920s (H. Weyl, F. London) and the generalization of gauge invariance to non-abelian groups after 1954 (Yang-Mills). However, it is difficult to explain the initial excitement generated by Yang-Mills gauge theories (which from the beginning were plagued by the non-trivial zero-mass problem) without a closer investigation of the role played by gauge invariance in the formulations of quantum electrodynamics as a quantum field theory. This presentation will explore the role of gauge invariance in the Pauli-Heisenberg canonical formalism for the quantization of fields, and in the Schwinger covariant formalism for the evaluation of vacuum polarization. Alexander Blum Alexander Blum Europe/Berlin public