Further comments on the background field method and gauge invariant effective actions

The aim of this paper is to give a firm and clear proof of the existence in the background field framework of a gauge invariant effective action for any gauge theory ({\it background gauge equivalence}). Here by effective action we mean a functional whose Legendre transform restricted to the physical shell generates the matrix elements of the connected

S

-matrix. We resume and clarify a former argument due to Abbott, Grisaru and Schaefer based on the gauge-artifact nature of the background fields and on the identification of the gauge invariant effective action with the generator of the proper, background field, vertices.

Note:

21 pages, Latex 2e Report-no: GEF-TH-04/994

background field
effective action
gauge field theory: SU(2)
S-matrix
Higgs model
renormalization
quantization

References(20)

Figures(0)

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