On a mathematically foundational level, our most successful physical theories (gauge field theories and general-relativistic theories) are formulated in a framework based on the differential geometry of connections on principal bundles. After reviewing the essentials of this framework, we articulate the generalized hole and point-coincidence arguments, examining how they weight on a substantivalist position towards bundle spaces. This question, then, is considered in light of the Dressing Field Method, which allows a manifestly invariant reformulation of gauge field theories and general-relativistic theories, making their conceptual structure more transparent: it formally implements the point-coincidence argument and thus allows to define (dressed) fields and (dressed) bundle spaces immune to hole-type arguments

What Price Fiber Bundle Substantivalism? On How to Avoid Holes in Fibers / Berghofer, P., François, J., Ravera, L.. - In: FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS. - ISSN 0015-9018. - ELETTRONICO. - 56:4(2026), pp. 1-38. [10.1007/s10701-026-00941-x]

What Price Fiber Bundle Substantivalism? On How to Avoid Holes in Fibers

Ravera, L.
2026

Abstract

On a mathematically foundational level, our most successful physical theories (gauge field theories and general-relativistic theories) are formulated in a framework based on the differential geometry of connections on principal bundles. After reviewing the essentials of this framework, we articulate the generalized hole and point-coincidence arguments, examining how they weight on a substantivalist position towards bundle spaces. This question, then, is considered in light of the Dressing Field Method, which allows a manifestly invariant reformulation of gauge field theories and general-relativistic theories, making their conceptual structure more transparent: it formally implements the point-coincidence argument and thus allows to define (dressed) fields and (dressed) bundle spaces immune to hole-type arguments
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11583/3013302