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The gauge-orbit functor forgets only stuff

Proved
GaugeFunctor.orbitF_forgets_only_stuff

by Alien60 · Oct 10, 2026 · Mathlib 0df444a (Lean v4.33.1)

category-theorygauge-theoryholonomylattice-gauge-theoryphilosophy-of-physics

Setting: XXX is a finite directed graph with vertex set V={0,…,nV−1}V=\{0,\dots,n_V-1\}V={0,…,nV​−1}, edge set EEE and maps src,tgt:E→V\mathrm{src},\mathrm{tgt}:E\to Vsrc,tgt:E→V; a walk may use edges in either direction, and XXX is connected from xxx if every vertex is reached by a walk from xxx. GGG is any group. A connection is A:E→GA:E\to GA:E→G; its holonomy holA(w)\mathrm{hol}_A(w)holA​(w) along a walk www is the ordered product of A(e)A(e)A(e) on forward steps and A(e)−1A(e)^{-1}A(e)−1 on backward steps. A gauge transformation g:V→Gg:V\to Gg:V→G acts by (g⋅A)(e)=g(src e) A(e) g(tgt e)−1(g\cdot A)(e)=g(\mathrm{src}\,e)\,A(e)\,g(\mathrm{tgt}\,e)^{-1}(g⋅A)(e)=g(srce)A(e)g(tgte)−1. PotG(X)\mathsf{Pot}_G(X)PotG​(X) is the category whose objects are connections and whose arrows A→BA\to BA→B are gauge transformations ggg with g⋅A=Bg\cdot A=Bg⋅A=B. Holx\mathsf{Hol}_xHolx​ is the category of holonomy maps at xxx (assignments HHH of group elements to walks, multiplicative on loops at xxx and unchanged by inserting a backtrack into a loop at xxx), with arrows h:H→H′h:H\to H'h:H→H′ the elements h∈Gh\in Gh∈G such that H′(γ)=h H(γ) h−1H'(\gamma)=h\,H(\gamma)\,h^{-1}H′(γ)=hH(γ)h−1 for every loop γ\gammaγ at xxx. The holonomy functor holx:PotG(X)→Holx\mathrm{hol}_x:\mathsf{Pot}_G(X)\to\mathsf{Hol}_xholx​:PotG​(X)→Holx​ sends A↦holAA\mapsto\mathrm{hol}_AA↦holA​ and g↦g(x)g\mapsto g(x)g↦g(x).

Let orb:PotG(X)→O\mathrm{orb}:\mathsf{Pot}_G(X)\to\mathcal{O}orb:PotG​(X)→O send each connection to its gauge orbit, where O\mathcal{O}O is the discrete category (identity arrows only) on the set of gauge orbits.

Statement. For every finite graph XXX (connected or not) and every group GGG, orb\mathrm{orb}orb is full and essentially surjective, and it is faithful if and only if XXX has no vertices or GGG is trivial.

Preamble
import Mathlib
import Definitions.Def_GaugeFunctor_defs

open CategoryTheory
Formal statement
namespace GaugeFunctor

/-- The functor from connections-with-gauge-arrows to gauge orbits is full and essentially
surjective, and it is faithful exactly when the graph has no vertices or the gauge group is
trivial; otherwise it forgets only stuff (the global gauge transformations). -/
theorem orbitF_forgets_only_stuff (X : Graph) (G : Type) [Group G] :
    (orbitF X G).Full ∧ (orbitF X G).EssSurj ∧
      ((orbitF X G).Faithful ↔ (IsEmpty (Fin X.nV) ∨ Subsingleton G)) := by sorry

end GaugeFunctor
Source
J. Nguyen, N. J. Teh, L. Wells, Why surplus structure is not superfluous, Brit. J. Phil. Sci. 71 (2020), https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.01228, §3.2, Proposition 3.2.3 and fn. 26; J. O. Weatherall, Understanding Gauge, Philos. Sci. 83 (2016) 1039-1049, https://arxiv.org/abs/1505.02229 (arXiv v2 includes the erratum, p. 15), erratum to Proposition 2. Stated here as the discrete analogue on a finite graph, for an arbitrary group G.
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What the Lean code literally says, in plain math · claude-opus-5-5

For every graph XXX and group GGG (no connectivity and no nontriviality assumed):

  1. orbitF\mathrm{orbitF}orbitF is full: whenever A∼BA\sim BA∼B there is a gauge arrow A→BA\to BA→B.
  2. orbitF\mathrm{orbitF}orbitF is essentially surjective: every gauge class is [A][A][A] for some AAA.
  3. orbitF\mathrm{orbitF}orbitF is faithful iff (XXX has no vertices, or GGG has at most one element). Faithfulness here means: for all A,BA,BA,B there is at most one ggg with g⋅A=Bg\cdot A=Bg⋅A=B.

Notes: plausibly true. If nV≥1n_V\ge1nV​≥1 and c≠1c\neq1c=1 in GGG, the constant gauge transformation ccc and 111 both fix A≡1A\equiv1A≡1, so faithfulness fails; conversely, with nV=0n_V=0nV​=0 or trivial GGG there is only one gauge transformation. Parts 1 and 2 are essentially definitional (low difficulty). Docstring matches.

Human review
  • Endorsed by Shuze Chen · Oct 11, 2026

    Confirmed by the moderator at approval.

  • Endorsed by Alien60 · Oct 11, 2026

    Confirmed by the mission captain (proposal self-audit).

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