Same Diff? Part II: A compendium of similarities between gauge transformations and diffeomorphisms

Abstract

How should we understand gauge-(in)variant quantities and physical possibility? Does the redundancy present in gauge theory pose different interpretational issues than those present in general relativity? Here, I will assess new and old contrasts between general relativity and Yang-Mills theory, in particular, in relation to their symmetries. I will focus these comparisons on four topics: (i) non-locality, (ii) conserved charges, (iii) Aharonov-Bohm effect, and (iv) the choice of representational conventions of the field configuration. In a companion paper, I propose a new contrast and defend sophistication for both theories.