Nonperturbative path integral quantization of the electroweak model: The Maxwell integration

Abstract

The non-perturbative path integral quantization of the electroweak model is confronted with an apparent instability when integrating over the Maxwell potential $A_{\mu}$ due to the fast growth of the box graphs $AAAA$ and $AAAZ$ for large amplitude variations of $A_{\mu}$. $Z_{\mu}$ is from the vector part of the weak neutral current. These graphs are unavoidable because they are conditionally convergent and have to be isolated in the model's exact Euclidean one-loop effective action arising from its fermion determinants. A previous QED calculation of the large amplitude variation of its fermion determinant for a class of random potentials showed that the $AAAA$ box graph cancels in this limit. Using this result it is shown that within the electroweak model large amplitude variations of $A_{\mu}$ for fixed $Z_{\mu}$ in a superposition of these fields cancel the $AAAA$ and $AAAZ$ graphs, thereby removing an apparent obstacle to the model's non-perturbative quantization. A negative paramagnetic term in the remainder opposes the effective action's growth for such variations. Its calculation requires knowledge of the degeneracy of the bound states of a charged fermion in the four-dimensional magnetic fields generated by the functional measure of $A_{\mu}$.