{
  "abstract": "The Brout--Englert--Higgs (BEH) mechanism can be formulated in gauge-invariant relational terms without assigning physical spontaneous breaking to a local gauge redundancy. We treat the gauge orientation of the Higgs field as dynamical internal reference data and describe the gauge connection relative to this Higgs frame. On a regular patch where the frame exists, the Higgs kinetic term induces a positive-semidefinite mass-squared quadratic form on the gauge-orbit directions and reproduces the standard tree-level vector masses. A complete Higgs frame yields a gauge-invariant relational connection, whereas a partial frame is defined only up to a stabilizer group $H$ and produces Higgs stiffness only along the coset directions $G/H$. In quantum field theory the normalized frame and relational connection are nonpolynomial composite variables; physical masses are therefore characterized through suitably renormalized gauge-invariant composite correlators, or through fully dressed operators in residual-charged sectors. Applying this construction to the electroweak theory, we show that the Higgs frame relationalizes the $SU(2)_L$ redundancy while leaving a residual electromagnetic $U(1)_{\\rm em}$ Gauss law: $W^\\pm$ and charged fermionic modes require electromagnetic dressing, whereas neutral channels admit local gauge-invariant interpolators. This formulation connects Higgs dressings, FMS composites, and internal quantum-reference-frame language while keeping local mass generation distinct from global symmetry realization and topological obstructions.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.17264",
  "author_total": 1,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Kei-Ichi Kondo"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5chbeq6453wp8.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.17264",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "5chbeq6453wp8",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.17264",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "hep-th"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3106|Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221759814",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.17264",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-12",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5chbeq6453wp8.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:06Z",
      "native_id": "2610.17264",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.17264"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:hep-th",
      "subfield": "high-energy"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Gauge-Invariant Brout--Englert--Higgs Mechanism without Spontaneous Breaking of Local Gauge Symmetry: A Quantum-Reference-Frame Formulation",
  "title_text": "Gauge-Invariant Brout--Englert--Higgs Mechanism without Spontaneous Breaking of Local Gauge Symmetry: A Quantum-Reference-Frame Formulation",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:06Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5chbeq6453wp8",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}