Gauge-Independent Theory of Symmetry. II.

Abstract

This paper develops a gauge-independent symmetry theory of non-relativistic quantum mechanical systems, in line with that previously considered in the context of classical mechanics. We first discuss at length the motivation for adopting the view that the invariance of a system K under a physical symmetry operation .<I' should be taken to mean invariance of the equation of motion of K under a certain gauge-independent unitary transformation U c( .<1'). The formal development of the theory is then carried through, and some detailed examples are presented. In particular, corresponding to every direction along which a system K happens to be translation invariant there exists a gauge-independent generator of translations which leaves K invariant but which is not, in general, a component of either the canonical or the kinetic momentum. The connexion between such invariant generators of translations and the so-called magnetic translation operators is referred to.