A study of gauge-invariant non-local interactions

Abstract

The paper investigates the possibility of introducing ‘non-local’ interactions, i. e. interactions represented by four-dimensional integral operations, in order to eliminate divergences in the quantum theory of interacting fields. In particular, a type of equation is discussed which preserves all the required invariance properties, including gauge invariance and macroscopic causality. It turns out that equations of this type still give divergent results. The origin of these divergences is discussed, and it is shown that if there is any way of formulating a finite theory it would have to be very different from the one investigated here.