MANDELSTAM–LEIBBRANDT: NOT REALLY A PRESCRIPTION IN THE LIGHT-CONE GAUGE

Abstract

Since the very beginning of it, perhaps the subtlest of all gauges is the light-cone gauge, for its implementation leads to characteristic singularities that require some kind of special prescription to handle them in a proper and consistent manner. The best known of these prescriptions is the Mandelstam–Leibbrandt one. In this work we revisit it showing that its status as a mere prescription is not appropriate but rather that its origin can be traced back to fundamental physical properties such as causality and covariantization methods.