Artificial vs Substantial Gauge Symmetries: a Criterion and an Application to the Electroweak Model

To answer the generalized Kretschman objection, we propose a criterion to decide if the gauge symmetry of a theory is artificial or substantial. It is based on the dressing field method of gauge symmetry reduction, a new simple tool from mathematical physics. Given this criterion we argue that the notion of spontaneous symmetry breaking is superfluous to the empirical success of the electroweak unification theory. Important questions regarding the context of justification of the theory then arise