A simple example of a classical gauge transformation

Abstract

Attention is given to the manner in which the interaction of a gravitational field with a diffusing gas is induced by a gauge transformation. Since the gas can be thought of as a field, the diffusion process may be represented by a Lagrangian density with the symmetry property of invariance under translation. While this property is lost when the field interacts with a static gravitational field, it is formally restored when an appropriate gauge transformation is performed. This ascription of field properties to a gas offers an illuminating illustration of the coupling of matter to a gauge field within the context of classical mechanics.