dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaFiber Bundle Gauge Theories and "Field's Dilemma"
| Authors | Yair Guttmann, Holger Lyre |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0005051 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0005051 |
Abstract
We propose a distinction between the physical and the mathematical parts of gauge field theories. The main problem we face is to uphold a strong and meaningful criterion of what is physical. We like to call it "Field's dilemma", referring to Hartry Field's nominalist proposal which we consider to be inadaequate. The resolution to the dilemma, we believe, is implicitly provided by the so-called fiber bundle formalism. We shall demonstrate, in detail, that the bundle structure underlying modern quantum and gravitational gauge field theories allows for a genuine distinction between the physically significant and the merely mathematical parts of these theories.
{
"annotation_id": "0dd81c4e-31a5-4685-8872-7b8e48d30e5a",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:00:32.615000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:00:32.615000Z",
"file_hash": "4b7f30dbfafa4b52356c12c5c5ea99fddc8e26bfda2fc00d08d39d4bc484cfaf",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "We propose a distinction between the physical and the mathematical parts of\ngauge field theories. The main problem we face is to uphold a strong and\nmeaningful criterion of what is physical. We like to call it \"Field\u0027s dilemma\",\nreferring to Hartry Field\u0027s nominalist proposal which we consider to be\ninadaequate. The resolution to the dilemma, we believe, is implicitly provided\nby the so-called fiber bundle formalism. We shall demonstrate, in detail, that\nthe bundle structure underlying modern quantum and gravitational gauge field\ntheories allows for a genuine distinction between the physically significant\nand the merely mathematical parts of these theories.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0005051",
"authors": [
"Yair Guttmann",
"Holger Lyre"
],
"categories": [
"physics.hist-ph",
"gr-qc",
"hep-th",
"physics.gen-ph",
"quant-ph"
],
"title": "Fiber Bundle Gauge Theories and \"Field\u0027s Dilemma\"",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0005051"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "3965e42f-b547-418c-8c1c-cfaa7ec4d2d2",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}