Nov 19, 2018
“A Very Serious Difficulty”: the Role of Gauge Invariance in Quantum Electrodynamics (1929–1954)
- 14:00 to 15:30
- Seminar
- Historical Epistemology of the Final Theory
- Ion Gabriel Mihailescu
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.
Contact and Registration
About This Series
The seminar series of the Research Group “Historical Epistemology of the Final Theory Program” runs once a month, usually on a Monday at 14:30 in the seminar room of the Villa (Harnackstraße 5). The talks deal primarily with the history, philosophy, and foundations of modern (post-WWII) physics or with wider epistemological questions related to the work of the group. There are no pre-circulated papers.