MCMP – Philosophy of Physics

First-Class Constraints, Gauge, and the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation


Listen Later

Oliver Pooley (Oxford) gives a talk at the Workshop on the Problem of Time in Perspective (3-4 July, 2015) titled "First-Class Constraints, Gauge, and the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation". Abstract: Recently, Pitts (2014) has argued that the claim that first-class constraints generate gauge transformations (hereafter “orthodoxy”) fails even in electromagnetism, which is standardly taken to illustrate its correctness. Independently, Barbour and Foster (2008) have argued that a key presupposition of the primary argument for orthodoxy (due to Dirac, 1964) is not satisfied in the important case of reparameterization-invariant theories. In assessing these claims, one needs to distinguish between, (i) transformations that relate points of phase space that represent the same instantaneous state and (ii) transformations that map curves on phase space to curves that represent the same history. Pitts shows that arbitrary first-class constraints fail to generate transformations of type (ii), but leaves untouched the orthodox position concerning (i). Barbour and Foster show that we have no reason to regard transformations generated by Hamiltonian constraints as type (i), but that leaves open that they may be regarded as transformations of type (ii). I will discuss whether the latter possibility allows one to reconcile applying Dirac’s constrained quantization procedure to the Hamiltonian constraint and interpreting the Wheeler–DeWitt wavefunction as representing genuine change.
...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

MCMP – Philosophy of PhysicsBy MCMP Team

  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5

5

3 ratings


More shows like MCMP – Philosophy of Physics

View all
Tonspur Forschung by Annik Rubens

Tonspur Forschung

3 Listeners

Einführung in die Ethnologie by Prof. Dr. Frank Heidemann

Einführung in die Ethnologie

0 Listeners

Theoretical Physics Schools (ASC) by The Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics (ASC)

Theoretical Physics Schools (ASC)

2 Listeners

MCMP – Mathematical Philosophy (Archive 2011/12) by MCMP Team

MCMP – Mathematical Philosophy (Archive 2011/12)

6 Listeners

Hegel lectures by Robert Brandom, LMU Munich by Robert Brandom, Axel Hutter

Hegel lectures by Robert Brandom, LMU Munich

6 Listeners

MCMP – Philosophy of Science by MCMP Team

MCMP – Philosophy of Science

1 Listeners

Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Prof. Dr. Stephan Hartmann – HD by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

Epistemology and Philosophy of Science: Prof. Dr. Stephan Hartmann – HD

1 Listeners

Sommerfeld Lecture Series (ASC) by The Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics (ASC)

Sommerfeld Lecture Series (ASC)

0 Listeners

LMU Grundkurs Strafrecht II (L-Z) SoSe 2015 by Prof. Dr. jur. Helmut Satzger

LMU Grundkurs Strafrecht II (L-Z) SoSe 2015

0 Listeners