Is There a Philosophy of Bundles and Fields? Drunken Risibility.

The bundle formulation of field theory is not at all motivated by just seeking a full mathematical generality; on the contrary it is just an empirical consequence of physical situations that concretely happen in Nature. One among the simplest of these situations may be that of a particle constrained to move on a sphere, denoted by S²; the physical state of such a dynamical system is described by providing both the position of the particle and its momentum, which is a tangent vector to the sphere. In other words, the state of this system is described by a point of the so-called tangent bundle TS² of the sphere, which is non-trivial, i.e. it has a global topology which differs from the (trivial) product topology of S² x R². When one seeks for solutions of the relevant equations of motion some local coordinates have to be chosen on the sphere, e.g. stereographic coordinates covering the whole sphere but a point (let us say the north pole). On such a coordinate neighbourhood (which is contractible to a point being a diffeomorphic copy of R²) there exists a trivialization of the corresponding portion of the tangent bundle of the sphere, so that the relevant equations of motion can be locally written in R² x R². At the global level, however, together with the equations, one should give some boundary conditions which will ensure regularity in the north pole. As is well known, different inequivalent choices are possible; these boundary conditions may be considered as what is left in the local theory out of the non-triviality of the configuration bundle TS².

Moreover, much before modem gauge theories or even more complicated new field theories, the theory of General Relativity is the ultimate proof of the need of a bundle framework to describe physical situations. Among other things, in fact, General Relativity assumes that spacetime is not the “simple” Minkowski space introduced for Special Relativity, which has the topology of R⁴. In general it is a Lorentzian four-dimensional manifold possibly endowed with a complicated global topology. On such a manifold, the choice of a trivial bundle M x F as the configuration bundle for a field theory is mathematically unjustified as well as physically wrong in general. In fact, as long as spacetime is a contractible manifold, as Minkowski space is, all bundles on it are forced to be trivial; however, if spacetime is allowed to be topologically non-trivial, then trivial bundles on it are just a small subclass of all possible bundles among which the configuration bundle can be chosen. Again, given the base M and the fiber F, the non-unique choice of the topology of the configuration bundle corresponds to different global requirements.

A simple purely geometrical example can be considered to sustain this claim. Let us consider M = S¹ and F = (-1, 1), an interval of the real line R; then ∃ (at least) countably many “inequivalent” bundles other than the trivial one Mö₀ = S¹ X F , i.e. the cylinder, as shown

Furthermore the word “inequivalent” can be endowed with different meanings. The bundles shown in the figure are all inequivalent as embedded bundles (i.e. there is no diffeomorphism of the ambient space transforming one into the other) but the even ones (as well as the odd ones) are all equivalent among each other as abstract (i.e. not embedded) bundles (since they have the same transition functions).

The bundles Mö_n (n being any positive integer) can be obtained from the trivial bundle Mö₀ by cutting it along a fiber, twisting n-times and then glueing again together. The bundle Mö₁ is called the Moebius band (or strip). All bundles Mö_n are canonically fibered on S¹, but just Mö₀ is trivial. Differences among such bundles are global properties, which for example imply that the even ones Mö_2k allow never-vanishing sections (i.e. field configurations) while the odd ones Mö_2k+1 do not.

Advertisement

Perverse Ideologies. Thought of the Day 100.0

Žižek (Fantasy as a Political Category A Lacanian Approach) says,

What we are thus arguing is not simply that ideology permeates also the alleged extra-ideological strata of everyday life, but that this materialization of ideology in the external materiality renders visible inherent antagonisms that the explicit formulation of ideology cannot afford to acknowledge. It is as if an ideological edifice, in order to function “normally,” must obey a kind of “imp of perversity” and articulate its inherent antagonism in the externality of its material existence.

In this fashion, Žižek recognizes an element of perversity in all ideologies, as a prerequisite for their “normal” functioning. This is because all ideologies disguise lack and thus desire through disavowal. They know that lack is there, but at the same time they believe it is eliminated. There is an object that takes over lack, that is to say the Good each ideology endorses, through imaginary means. If we generalize Žižek’s suggestion, we can either see all ideological relations mediated by a perverse liaison or perversion as a condition that simply helps the subjects relate to each other, when signification fails and they are confronted with the everlasting question of sexual difference, the non-representable dimension. Ideology, then, is just one solution that makes use of the perverse strategy when dealing with Difference. In any case, it is not pathological and cannot be determined mainly by relying on the role of disavowal. Instead of père-vers (this is a Lacanian neologism that denotes the meanings of “perversion” and “vers le père”, referring to the search for jouissance that does not abolish the division of the subject, her desire. In this respect, the père-vers is typical of both neurosis and perversion, where the Name-of-the-Father is not foreclosed and thereby complete jouissance remains unobtainable sexuality, that searches not for absolute jouissance, but jouissance related to desire, the political question is more pertinent to the père-versus, so to say, anything that goes against the recognition of the desire of the Other. Any attempt to disguise lack for instrumental purposes is a père-versus tactic.

To the extent that this external materialization of ideology is subjected to fantasmatic processes, it divulges nothing more than the perversity that organizes all social and political relations far from the sexual pathology associated with the pervert. The Other of power, this fictional Other that any ideology fabricates, is the One who disavows the discontinuities of the normative chain of society. Expressed through the signifiers used by leadership, this Other knows very well the cul-de-sac of the fictional view of society as a unified body, but still believes that unity is possible, substantiating this ideal.

The ideological Other disregards the impossibility of bridging Difference; therefore, it meets the perversion that it wants to associate with the extra-ordinary. Disengaging it from pathology, disavowal can be stated differently, as a prompt that says: “let’s pretend!” Pretend as if a universal harmony, good, and unity are feasible. Symbolic Difference is replaced with imaginary difference, which nourishes antagonism and hostility by fictionalizing an external threat that jeopardizes the unity of the social body. Thus, fantasy of the obscene extra-ordinary, who offends the conformist norm, is in itself a perverse fantasy. The Other knows very well that the pervert constitutes no threat, but still requires his punishment, moral reformation, or treatment.