Gauge fixing and mass renormalization in the lattice gauge theory

Abstract

The lattice gauge theory proposed by Wilson is discussed. Gauge fixing is defined for the lattice theory, and it is shown that gauge fixing is done in this theory solely for calculational purposes. The gauge-fixing method is used to study the mass renormalization of the gauge field quantum. An explicit calculation is done to lowest order which shows that there is no mass renormalization. This same result is proved to all orders in perturbation theory using the Slavnov identity.