Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Just-So Higgs Story: A Response to Adrian Wüthrich

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal for General Philosophy of Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

I give a response to Adrian Wüthrich’s critical review of my analysis of the Higgs mechanism, in which I try to clarify some possible misunderstandings. I concede that, as Wüthrich points out, many physicists see the Higgs mechanism as the roll-over from a symmetrical potential in the initial Lagrangian to a symmetry-breaking potential, while my former analysis had basically focused on the gauge-invariant transformation of the initial Lagrangian into the intended form. My main contention, however, still is that neither Higgs story has (as yet) much explanatory power.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. I stick with the notation of my 2008 paper but skip over an unnecessary intermediate step in which \({\cal L}'\) was transformed into a mathematically equivalent Lagrangian \({\cal L}''\) and which more explicitly shows how the unphysical Goldstone boson ϑ becomes absorbed into A μ due to the above gauge.

References

  • Earman, J. (2004). Laws, symmetry, and symmetry breaking: Invariance, conservation principles, and objectivity. Philosophy of Science, 71, 1227–1241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friederich, S. (2012). Gauge symmetry breaking in gauge theories—In search of clarification. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, online first version.

  • Healey, R. (2007). Gauging what’s real: The conceptual foundations of gauge theories. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lyre, H. (2008). Does the Higgs mechanism exist? International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 22(2), 119–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murayama, H. (2002). The origin of neutrino mass. Physics World, 5, 35–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smeenk, C. (2006). The elusive Higgs mechanism. Philosophy of Science, 73, 487–499.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Struyve, W. (2011). Gauge invariant accounts of the Higgs mechanism. Studies In History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 42(4), 226–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wüthrich, A. (2010). Eating Goldstone bosons in a phase transition: A critical review of Lyre’s analysis of the Higgs mechanism. General Journal for Philosophy of Science, this volume.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Philosophy Department, University of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany

    Holger Lyre

Authors
  1. Holger Lyre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Holger Lyre.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lyre, H. The Just-So Higgs Story: A Response to Adrian Wüthrich. J Gen Philos Sci 43, 289–294 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-012-9200-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-012-9200-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation