The Philosophy and Physics of Noether's Theorems
A Centenary Volume

A centenary volume that celebrates, extends and applies Noether's 1918 theorems with contributions from world-leading researchers.

James Read (Edited by), Nicholas J. Teh (Edited by)

9781108486231, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 September 2022

430 pages
25 x 17.5 x 2.7 cm, 0.84 kg

In 1918, Emmy Noether, in her paper Invariante Variationsprobleme, proved two theorems (and their converses) on variational problems that went on to revolutionise theoretical physics. 100 years later, the mathematics of Noether's theorems continues to be generalised, and the physical applications of her results continue to diversify. This centenary volume brings together world-leading historians, philosophers, physicists, and mathematicians in order to clarify the historical context of this work, its foundational and philosophical consequences, and its myriad physical applications. Suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students and professional researchers, this is a go-to resource for those wishing to understand Noether's work on variational problems and the profound applications which it finds in contemporary physics.

Introduction James Read and Nicholas Teh
1. The Noether theorems in context Yvette Kosmann-Schwarzbach
2. Felix Klein and Emmy Noether on invariant theory and variational principles David Rowe
3. Moscow, Oxford, or Princeton: The move from Göttingen Tomoko Kitagawa
4. Getting to the bottom of Noether's theorem John Baez
5. BV quantization in perturbative algebraic QFT: Fundamental concepts and perspectives Kasia Rejzner
6. Divergence invariant variational problems Peter Olver
7. Do symmetries 'explain' conservation laws? The modern converse Noether theorem versus pragmatism Harvey Brown
8. Converse of Noether's first theorem and the energy-momentum tensor ambiguity problem Mark Baker, Niels Linnemann and Christopher Smeenk
9. Noether's theorems and energy in general relativity Sebastian de Haro
10. Geometric objects and perspectivalism James Read
11. Substantive general covariance and the Einstein–Klein dispute: A Noetherian approach Laurent Freidel and Nicholas Teh
12. Noether charges, gauge-invariance, and non-separability Henrique Gomes
13. Observability, redundancy and modality for dynamical symmetry transformations David Wallace
14. The gauge argument: A Noether reason Henrique Gomes, Bryan Roberts and Jeremy Butterfield.

Subject Areas: Mathematical physics [PHU], Physics [PH], Mathematics & science [P]