Redundancies and Profundities

TL;DR

This paper critically reevaluates the gauge principle in quantum field theories, emphasizing its dependence on initial conditions and exploring its role across various frameworks like QED, symmetry breaking, and scattering amplitudes.

Contribution

It offers a novel perspective on the gauge principle as an initial-condition-dependent structure and introduces a shifting scale ontology in quantum field theory.

Findings

Gauge symmetry depends on initial conditions rather than being fundamental.

Adding auxiliary fields in $$ theory alters the dynamics.

Modal language clarifies gauge symmetry and locality principles.

Abstract

We reevaluate the status of the gauge principle and reposition it as an intermediary structure dependent on the initial conditions we endow on our theory. We explore how the gauge symmetry manifests in the context of basic quantum electrodynamics, spontaneous symmetry breaking and the modern scattering amplitudes program. We also investigate the addition of an auxiliary field in $\phi^4$ theory and see how the dynamics are altered. Modal language is pointed to and utilized as a convenient way to articulate the weight gauge symmetry demands in our theories as well as the principles of locality and Lorentz invariance. A shifting scale ontology is introduced with regards to the gauge principle and other structures of Quantum Field Theory in general.