dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaE. Noether's Discovery of the Deep Connection Between Symmetries and Conservation Laws
| Authors | Nina Byers |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/9807044 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9807044 |
Abstract
Emmy Noether proved two deep theorems, and their converses, on the connection between symmetries and conservation laws. Because these theorems are not in the mainstream of her scholarly work, which was the development of modern abstract algebra, it is of some historical interest to examine how she came to make these discoveries. The present paper is an historical account of the circumstances in which she discovered and proved these theorems which physicists refer to collectively as Noether's Theorem. The work was done soon after Hilbert's discovery of the variational principle which gives the field equations of general relativity. The failure of local energy conservation in the general theory was a problem that concerned people at that time, among them David Hilbert, Felix Klein, and Albert Einstein. Noether's theorems solved this problem. With her characteristically deep insight and thorough analysis, in solving that problem she discovered very general theorems that have profoundly influenced modern physics.
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"abstract": "Emmy Noether proved two deep theorems, and their converses, on the connection\nbetween symmetries and conservation laws. Because these theorems are not in the\nmainstream of her scholarly work, which was the development of modern abstract\nalgebra, it is of some historical interest to examine how she came to make\nthese discoveries. The present paper is an historical account of the\ncircumstances in which she discovered and proved these theorems which\nphysicists refer to collectively as Noether\u0027s Theorem. The work was done soon\nafter Hilbert\u0027s discovery of the variational principle which gives the field\nequations of general relativity. The failure of local energy conservation in\nthe general theory was a problem that concerned people at that time, among them\nDavid Hilbert, Felix Klein, and Albert Einstein. Noether\u0027s theorems solved this\nproblem. With her characteristically deep insight and thorough analysis, in\nsolving that problem she discovered very general theorems that have profoundly\ninfluenced modern physics.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/9807044",
"authors": [
"Nina Byers"
],
"categories": [
"physics.hist-ph",
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"hep-th",
"math-ph",
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],
"title": "E. Noether\u0027s Discovery of the Deep Connection Between Symmetries and Conservation Laws",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9807044"
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