Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Why surplus structure is not superfluous

Nguyen, James, Teh, Nicholas J. and Wells, Laura (2018) Why surplus structure is not superfluous. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. ISSN 0007-0882

[img]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Download (440kB) | Preview
Identification Number: 10.1093/bjps/axy026

Abstract

The idea that gauge theory has `surplus' structure poses a puzzle: in one much discussed sense, this structure is redundant; but on the other hand, it is also widely held to play an essential role in the theory. In this paper, we employ category-theoretic tools to illuminate an aspect of this puzzle. We precisify what is meant by `surplus' structure by means of functorial comparisons with equivalence classes of gauge fields, and then show that such structure is essential for any theory that represents a rich collection of physically relevant fields which are `local' in nature.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://journal.philsci.org/
Additional Information: © 2017 The Authors
Divisions: Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2017 14:19
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 15:56
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/86346

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics