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If ϕ is a velocity potential, then ϕ + f(t) is also a velocity potential for u, where f(t) is a scalar function of time and can be constant. Velocity potentials are unique up to a constant, or a function solely of the temporal variable. The Laplacian of a velocity potential is equal to the divergence of the corresponding flow.
The potential equations can be simplified using a procedure called gauge fixing. Since the potentials are only defined up to gauge equivalence, we are free to impose additional equations on the potentials, as long as for every pair of potentials there is a gauge equivalent pair that satisfies the additional equations (i.e. if the gauge fixing ...
The transformations between possible gauges, called gauge transformations, form a Lie group—referred to as the symmetry group or the gauge group of the theory. Associated with any Lie group is the Lie algebra of group generators. For each group generator there necessarily arises a corresponding field (usually a vector field) called the gauge ...
A gauge theory is a type of theory in physics.The word gauge means a measurement, a thickness, an in-between distance (as in railroad tracks), or a resulting number of units per certain parameter (a number of loops in an inch of fabric or a number of lead balls in a pound of ammunition). [1]
The ability to vary the gauge potential at different points in space and time (by changing (,)) without changing the physics is called a local invariance. Electromagnetic theory possess the simplest kind of local gauge symmetry called () (see unitary group). A theory that displays local gauge invariance is called a gauge theory.
In electromagnetism, the Lorenz condition is generally used in calculations of time-dependent electromagnetic fields through retarded potentials. [2] The condition is , =, where is the four-potential, the comma denotes a partial differentiation and the repeated index indicates that the Einstein summation convention is being used.
In mathematics and mathematical physics, potential theory is the study of harmonic functions.. The term "potential theory" was coined in 19th-century physics when it was realized that two fundamental forces of nature known at the time, namely gravity and the electrostatic force, could be modeled using functions called the gravitational potential and electrostatic potential, both of which ...
In quantum field theory, Wilson loops are gauge invariant operators arising from the parallel transport of gauge variables around closed loops.They encode all gauge information of the theory, allowing for the construction of loop representations which fully describe gauge theories in terms of these loops.