Gauge invariance, a core principle in electrodynamics, has two separate meanings, only one of which is robust. The reliable concept treats the photon as the gauge field for electrodynamics. It is based on symmetries of the Lagrangian, and requires no mention of electric or magnetic fields. The other depends directly on the electric and magnetic fields, and how they can be represented by potential functions that are not unique. The first gauge concept has been fruitful, whereas the second has the defect that there exist gauge transformations from physical to unphysical states. The fields are unchanged by the gauge transformation, so that potentials are the necessary guides to correctness.
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