https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-013-2348-3
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Gauge-free Coleman–Weinberg potential
1
Astroparticle Physics & Cosmology Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, 700 064, India
2
Department of Physics, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananada University, Belur Math, Howrah, 711202, India
* e-mail: srijit.bhattacharjee@saha.ac.in
Received:
13
December
2012
Revised:
13
February
2013
Published online:
9
March
2013
The gauge-dependence of the one loop Coleman–Weinberg effective potential in scalar electrodynamics is resolved using a gauge-free approach not requiring any gauge-fixing of quantum fluctuations of the photon degrees of freedom. This leads to a unique dynamical ratio at one loop of the Higgs mass to the photon mass. We compare our approach and results with those obtained in geometric framework of DeWitt and Vilkovisky, which maintains invariance under field redefinitions as well as invariance under background gauge transformations, but requires, in contrast to our approach, gauge fixing of fluctuating photon fields. We also discuss possible modifications of the Coleman–Weinberg potential if we adapt the DeWitt–Vilkovisky method to our gauge-free approach for scalar QED.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg and Società Italiana di Fisica, 2013
