The physical degrees of freedom of non-abelian gauge fields

Abstract

A set of differential gauge fixing conditions is exhibited which every non-abelian gauge field A i a can be made to satisfy by means of a unique gauge transformation. This gauge has the further property of reducing to the Coulomb gauge in the abelian limit. The theory is quantized in this gauge, and the conditions under which the physical variables are equivalent to a set of unconstrained transverse variables are discussed. It is found that, under certain conditions, independent longitudinal degrees of freedom appear in the theory, and must be quantized. Finally, an interesting class of quasi-Coulomb gauge conditions is discussed.