Path integral regularization of QED by means of Stueckelberg fields

Abstract

With the help of a Stueckelberg field we construct a regularized U(1) gauge invariant action through the introduction of cutoff functions. This action has the property that it converges formally to the unregularized action of QED when the ultraviolet cutoff goes to infinity. Integrating out exactly the Stueckelberg field we obtain a simple effective regularized action, which is fully gauge invariant and gives rise to the same prediction as QED at the tree level and to the one loop order.

LaTeX file, 12 pages, 3 figures. Revised version, to be published in Phys. Lett. B