Canonical operator theory of non-Abelian gauge fields

Abstract

Non-Abelian gauge theory in a manifestly covariant gauge is formulated as a theory of canonical field operators and embedded in an indefinite metric space. A gauge-fixing field is included and every field component has a nonvanishing adjoint momentum with which it has canonical commutation (or anticommutation) relations. Faddeev-Popov fields are represented as scalar fermion fields with ghost particle excitations. Feynman rules are derived from the canonical formulation. A discussion is given of the relation between the existence of a subsidiary condition and the existence of « pure gauge » states that dynamically detach from observable states.