great stuff -
gauge theory was real important in the history of math -
one of the guys in our study group (from the J Baez, B Mandelbrot stable) last brought up gauge theory
(the 10-20 posts from here onwards
->-
http://www.addforums.com/forums/show...&postcount=656)
however - I was more interested in Weyl -
what a dude !
and exactly as you observed - the symmetry
- though more importantly the switch from the inaccuracies of the first 'gauge' into a complex (mathematical complexity) transformation
- the imaginary component of 'reality' has always fascinated me.
If you want to kick over any of this out there in the forum
- then that'd be nice.
By the way - I used to look after the science section on that forum -
- and particularly liked communicating with guys just like you who were actually interested.
Unfortunately - I've found that scientists often settle into ruts after the early years of enthusiasm - and so discovered quite some time ago now that perhaps the most important characteristic which a scientist should aspire towards -

is keeping the interest alive.
Funnily enough the rut applies to on-line communities also -
and as a newbie here - I'd like to say how cool I found the Jelsoft inter-forum communication module.
I posted a request for it to be included on addforums.com yesterday - actually bringing up another interesting question -
do you guys consider that an individual should post on one forum -
- or be free to post across multiple fora?
Anyhow
- hiya cni

... ... ... see you around and about.