Lorentz-invariant ensembles of vector backgrounds

Abstract

We consider gauge field theories in the presence of ensembles of vector backgrounds. While Lorentz invariance is explicitly broken in the presence of any single background, here, the Lorentz invariance of the theory is restored by averaging over a Lorentz-invariant ensemble of backgrounds, i.e., a set of background vectors that is mapped onto itself under Lorentz transformations. This framework is used to study the effects of a non-trivial but Lorentz-invariant vacuum structure or mass dimension two vector condensates by identifying the background with a shift of the gauge field. Up to now, the ensembles used in the literature comprise configurations corresponding to non-zero field tensors together with such with vanishing field strength. We find that even when constraining the ensembles to pure gauge configurations, the usual high-energy degrees of freedom are removed from the spectrum of asymptotic states in the presence of said backgrounds in Euclidean and in Minkowski space. We establish this result not only for the propagators to all orders in the background and otherwise at tree level but for the full propagator.