Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-theoretical-physics-major-option-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/8/a/solution
Past exam of the theoretical physics major option course of the University of Oxford 2015 8 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The continuous internal symmetry is local gauge invariance. With the source's gauge covariant derivative convention it acts asso transforms like and is unchanged. Constant phases are its global subgroup, not an additional independent internal rotation group.
In flat four-dimensional space-time the continuous external symmetry is the Poincaré group: four translations and six Lorentz transformations. Noether's theorem associates translations with conserved energy and momentum, spatial rotations with angular momentum, and boosts with the relativistic center-of-energy/boost charges. In tensor notation the latter two are the six components of the conserved total angular-momentum tensor , including field spin contributions where appropriate. The nonzero dimensionful parameter prevents exact scale invariance. Discrete transformations, such as parity, are outside the requested continuous-symmetry list.
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