Talk by Radin Dardashti (MCMP)

[Karim Thébault]

Speaker: Radin Dardashti (MCMP)
Wednesday 2nd July 2014
Location: Ludwigstr. 31 room 021
Time: 16:15 - 17:45

On the Distinction between Internal and External Symmetries

There is no doubt that symmetries play an important role in fundamental
physics, but there is no agreement among physicists on what this role
exactly is. So it is not surprising that it has caught the interest of
philosophers in recent years leading to a lively discussion on the
epistemological and ontological significance of symmetries. Especially in
this context it becomes relevant whether common distinctions made between
different kinds of symmetries are purely conventional or have a deeper
mathematical and/or physical justification.  It is the aim of this talk to
discuss the distinction between internal and external (or spacetime)
symmetries and its possible justification.

First, I will discuss attempts at combining internal and external
symmetries, which lead to several no-go theorems. A naive interpretation of
these results leads to the conclusion that the distinction is
physically/mathematically justified. Second, the strong dependence of the
no-go results on physical and mathematical assumptions is discussed and it
is shown how the distinction becomes blurred once mathematical assumptions
are weakened. This is exactly what happens in supersymmetric extensions of
the standard model of particle physics. So, in the final part, I will argue
that under a certain (philosophical) assumption the question about the
status of the distinction can be made into an experimental question
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