Dual theories: 'Same but different' or 'different but same'?

作者：Rickles Dean^*

来源：Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics , 2017, 59: 62-67.

DOI：10.1016/j.shpsb.2015.09.005

• Quantum gravity
• String theory
• Duality
• Underdetermination
• Theory equivalence

I argue that underneath the glitz, dual theories are simply examples of theoretically equivalent descriptions of the same underlying physical content: I distinguish them from cases of genuine underdetermination on the grounds that there is no real incompatibility involved between the descriptions. The incompatibility is at the level of purely unphysical structure. I argue that dual pairs are in fact very strongly analogous to gauge-related solutions even for dual pairs that look the most radically distinct, such as AdS/CFT. However, again by analogy with gauge freedom, I conjecture that dualities always point to a more fundamental (intrinsic) description, namely that in which the representational redundancy is eliminated.

• 出版日期2017-8