Physical content of the bosonized light-front Schwinger model

Abstract

The light-front Schwinger model in the bosonized form is analyzed focusing on its global properties. We point out that the gauge invariance of the original fermionic form of the model is lost after bosonization. Consequently, the previously found theta-vacuum structure based on the residual large gauge transformation is actually not an intrinsic property of the bosonized form of the model. We analyze the corresponding field equations without any “gauge fixing” in both the light-front and space-like (“instant-form”) versions of the model and find the coinciding results: the axial-vector anomaly is automatically present and the spectrum of the model is given by a massive boson with the mass [Formula: see text]. Finally, we characterize and critically assess properties of the bosonized LF Schwinger model, found in the previous studies.