Remark. Gauge freedom of a potential [fdip-00AD]

The kernel in Lemma [fdip-00AC] is the gauge freedom of the potential. Adding a constant on one undirected component leaves every edge difference unchanged, and the electric field is the negative of that difference. A vector potential is assigned to the edges, as the link variables of lattice gauge theory are, and its field strength is the difference of those values around a face. The identity \(d\circ d=0\) needs that second difference, from edge fields to face fields. The maps defined here run only from vertices to edges.