On Dirac's incomplete analysis of gauge transformations

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dc.creatorPons, Josep M.
dc.date2004-09-16
dc.date2005-06-02
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T06:23:06Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T06:23:06Z
dc.descriptionDirac's approach to gauge symmetries is discussed. We follow closely the steps that led him from his conjecture concerning the generators of gauge transformations {\it at a given time} --to be contrasted with the common view of gauge transformations as maps from solutions of the equations of motion into other solutions-- to his decision to artificially modify the dynamics, substituting the extended Hamiltonian (including all first-class constraints) for the total Hamiltonian (including only the primary first-class constraints). We show in detail that Dirac's analysis was incomplete and, in completing it, we prove that the fulfilment of Dirac's conjecture --in the "non-pathological" cases-- does not imply any need to modify the dynamics. We give a couple of simple but significant examples.
dc.description36 pages. Additional references and a new paragraph in the introduction. Version to be published in Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0409076
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0409076
dc.identifierStud.Hist.Philos.Mod.Phys. 36 (2005) 491-518
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/96117
dc.subjectHistory and Philosophy of Physics
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.subjectMathematical Physics
dc.titleOn Dirac's incomplete analysis of gauge transformations
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