On the axial gauge: Ward identities and the separation of infrared and ultraviolet singularities by analytic regularization

Abstract

It is shown that the method of analytically regulating Yang–Mills theories in the axial gauge preserves gauge invariance. Two- and three-point Ward identities are computed and verified at the one-loop level. The method also permits a convenient and gauge-invariant separation of infrared and ultraviolet singularities in the axial gauge. In the axial gauge the renormalization constants Z3=Z1=1+11g2C2/(48πε2), leading to a β function which is identical to that computed in the covariant ξ gauges.