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physics.hist-ph2026
Ghosts that Connect
Henrique Gomes
What is a Faddeev--Popov ghost? The textbook answer is that it is a trick: a way of writing a functional determinant as a term in the action, and nothing more. Dougherty 2021 and D…
physics.hist-ph2026
The geometry-first formulation of gauge theory is not equivalent to the symmetry-first one
Henrique Gomes
This paper argues that the geometry-first and symmetry-first formulations of gauge theory are not equivalent. They differ in three respects. First, the geometry-first formulation--…
physics.hist-ph2026
Making Symmetry Explicit: The Limits of Sophistication
Henrique Gomes
Symmetry is often treated in philosophy of physics as an interpretive problem. A particularly lively dispute concerns local symmetries: do they indicate surplus structure that ough…