A nonperturbative calculation of the electron's magnetic moment
S. J. Brodsky, V. A. Franke, J. R. Hiller, G. McCartor, S. A. Paston, E. V. Prokhvatilov
Abstract
In principle, the complete spectrum and bound-state wave functions of a quantum field theory can be determined by finding the eigenvalues and eigensolutions of its light-cone Hamiltonian. One of the challenges in obtaining nonperturbative solutions for gauge theories such as QCD using light-cone Hamiltonian methods is to renormalize the theory while preserving Lorentz symmetries and gauge invariance. For example, the truncation of the light-cone Fock space leads to uncompensated ultraviolet divergences. We present two methods for consistently regularizing light-cone-quantized gauge theories in Feynman and light-cone gauges: (1) the introduction of a spectrum of Pauli-Villars fields which produces a finite theory while preserving Lorentz invariance; (2) the augmentation of the gauge-theory Lagrangian with higher derivatives. In the latter case, which is applicable to light-cone gauge (A^+ = 0), the A^- component of the gauge field is maintained as an independent degree of freedom rather than a constraint. Finite-mass Pauli-Villars regulators can also be used to compensate for neglected higher Fock states. As a test case, we apply these regularization procedures to an approximate nonperturbative computation of the anomalous magnetic moment of the electron in QED as a first attempt to meet Feynman's famous challenge.