A Local (Perturbative) Construction of Observables in Gauge Theories: The Example of QED

Abstract:

Interacting fields can be constructed as formal power series in the framework of causal perturbation theory. The local field algebra is obtained without performing the adiabatic limit; the (usually bad) infrared behavior plays no role. To construct the observables in gauge theories we use the Kugo–Ojima formalism; we define the BRST-transformation as a graded derivation on the algebra of interacting fields and use the implementation of by the Kugo–Ojima operator Q _int. Since our treatment is local, the operator Q _int differs from the corresponding operator Q of the free theory. We prove that the Hilbert space structure present in the free case is stable under perturbations. All assumptions are shown to be satisfied in QED.