Year: 1995
Type: article
Abstract: The generators of the Poincar\'e symmetry of scalar electrodynamics are quantized in the functional Schr\"odinger representation. We show that the factor ordering which corresponds to (minimal) Dirac quantization preserves the Poincar\'e algebra, but (minimal) reduced quantization does not. In the latter, there is a van Hove anomaly in the boost-boost commmutator, which we evaluate explicitly to lowest order in a heat kernal expansion using \ensuremath{\zeta}-function regularization. We illuminate the crucial role played by the gauge orbit volume element in the analysis. Our results demonstrate that preservation of extra symmetries at the quantum level is sometimes a useful criterion to select between inequivalent, but nevertheless self-consistent, quantization schemes.
Authors: R. J. Epp, G. Kunstatter
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2076486545