Landau gauge (quantum field theory)

The $\xi \to 0$ limit of covariant gauge fixing by $-({\partial }_{\mu }{A}^{\mu }{)}^2/(2\xi )$. It imposes the divergence condition sharply and gives a transverse photon propagator. This is distinct from the vector-potential choice called Landau gauge for a uniform magnetic field when computing Landau levels.

The covariant Landau gauge propagator is the transverse limit of the inversion of the gauge-fixed Maxwell kinetic operator. Contracting with $k^{\mu }$ gives zero away from the pole. The Lorenz gauge condition still has residual transformations satisfying $\square \chi =0$, so boundary conditions and the pole prescription complete the choice.