Viewing quantum charge from the classical vantage point

This paper argues for the value of interpreting classical gauge theories as part of the larger project of interpreting quantum field theories. It looks specifically at the benefit of studying a classical version of chromodynamics in order to better understand certain features of color charge in quantum chromodynamics. It discusses the ways in which the usual presentation of the conservation of color charge and the confinement of color charge serve to obscure the Lie-algebra-valued character of the conserved Noether charge, and it explores how we can remove these obscuring factors by studying color charge in classical chromodynamics. This key example of color charge illustrates the methodological benefit of the classical vantage point, giving us the ability to pinpoint the uniquely quantum character of certain features of charge properties