Gauge symmetries in modern physics

Online talk (in French) by Jordan François, scientific collaborator of the Service de Physique de l’Univers, Champs et Gravitation at the University of Mons.

At the heart of modern physics, there is a notion that is still largely unknown beyond the circle of professional physicists, even among a well-informed public and consumers of popular science: that of gauge symmetries.

All our fundamental theories, from general relativity to the standard model of particle physics, well tested by decades of experiments, are gauge theories, i.e. they exhibit gauge symmetries. What this fact says about reality has, for the last twenty years or so, been the subject of intense discussion among philosophers of physics.

To get a taste of its substance, we will start by asking some simple questions: what are these symmetries? How are they used to develop our best theories?

We will then open up the field of the most intriguing ontological and epistemic questions: what do gauge symmetries tell us about the constitution of nature? Of what are they symmetries? How can we understand their origin?

To be followed on the MUMONS YouTube channel!