A Unitary and Renormalizable Theory of the Standard Model in Ghost-Free Light-Cone Gauge

Abstract

Light-front (LF) quantization in light-cone (LC) gauge is used to construct a unitary and simultaneously renormalizable theory of the Standard Model. The framework derived earlier for QCD is extended to the Glashow, Weinberg, and Salam (GWS) model of electroweak interaction theory. The Lorentz condition is automatically satisfied in LF-quantized QCD in the LC gauge for the free massless gauge field. In the GWS model, with the spontaneous symmetry breaking present, we find that the 't Hooft condition accompanies the LC gauge condition corresponding to the massive vector boson. The two transverse polarization vectors for the massive vector boson may be chosen to be the same as found in QCD. The non-transverse and linearly independent third polarization vector is found to be parallel to the gauge direction. The corresponding sum over polarizations in the Standard model, indicated by $K_{μν}(k),$ has several simplifying properties similar to the polarization sum $D_{μν}(k)$ in QCD. The framework is ghost-free, and the interaction Hamiltonian of electroweak theory can be expressed in a form resembling that of covariant theory, except for few additional instantaneous interactions which can be treated systematically. The LF formulation also provides a transparent discussion of the Goldstone Boson (or Electroweak) Equivalence Theorem, as the illustrations show.