Year: 2024
Type: preprint
Abstract: The hole argument of general relativity threatens a radical and pernicious form of indeterminism. One natural response to the argument is that points belonging to different but isometric models should always be identified, or 'dragged-along', by the diffeomorphism that relates them. In this paper, I first criticise this response and its construal of isometry: it stumbles on certain cases, like Noether's second theorem. Then I go on to describe how the essential features of Einstein\rq{}s `point-coincidence' response to the hole argument avoid the criticisms of the `drag-along response' and are compatible with Noether's second theorem.
Author: Gomes, Henrique
Institution: University of Oxford
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4393023624