The Electromagnetic Field as a Synchrony Gauge Field

Abstract

Building on our previous work, we investigate the identification of the electromagnetic field as a local gauge field of a restricted group of synchrony transformations. We begin by arguing that the inability to measure the one-way speed of light independent of a synchronization scheme necessitates that physical laws must be reformulated without distant simultaneity. As a result, we are forced to introduce a new operational definition of time which leads to a fundamental space-time invariance principle that is related to a subset of the synchrony group. We identify the gauge field associated with this new invariance principle with the electromagnetic field. Consequently, the electromagnetic field acquires a space-time interpretation, as suggested in our previous work. In addition, we investigate the static, spherically symmetric solution of the resulting field equations. Also, we discuss implications of the present work for understanding the tension between classical and quantum theory.