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Use signature $(+,-,-,-)$ and Electron charge $q=-e$, with $e>0$. Then ${\mathcal{L}}_{\mathrm{int}}=-q\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\mu }\psi A_{\mu }=+e\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\mu }\psi A_{\mu }$. Write the process as $e^{-}(p,s)+\gamma (k,ϵ)\to e^{-}(p^{\prime },s^{\prime })+\gamma (k^{\prime },{ϵ}^{\prime })$. Physical external states satisfyand the photon polarization vectors obey $k\cdot ϵ=k^{\prime }\cdot {ϵ}^{\prime }=0$. Choose unit physical polarizations with ${ϵ}^{\ast }\cdot ϵ={ϵ}^{\prime \ast }\cdot {ϵ}^{\prime }=-1$; representatives differing by a multiple of the corresponding null momentum describe the same physical polarization. The external spinors obey $(/p-m)u(p)=0$, $\bar{u}(p^{\prime })(/p^{\prime }-m)=0$, with ${\bar{u}}_s{u}_r=2m{\delta }_{sr}$. Outgoing polarization appears complex conjugated, so this formula includes helicity states as well as real linear polarizations.

The needed QED Feynman rules are a vertex $-iq{\gamma }^{\mu }=+ie{\gamma }^{\mu }$, an internal Dirac propagator $i(/q+m)/(q^2-m^2+i0)$, the external spinors, and the incoming/outgoing photon polarization vectors. There is no internal photon at this order and no elementary two-photon–Dirac seagull vertex. The two photon orderings along the Electron line give internal momenta $q_s=p+k$ and $q_u=p-k^{\prime }$. Defining the matrix element by $S_{fi}-{\delta }_{fi}=i(2\pi {)}^4{\delta }^4(p+k-p^{\prime }-k^{\prime })\mathcal{M}$, their sum isThe denominators are $2p\cdot k+i0$ and $-2p\cdot k^{\prime }+i0$. Both terms are essential; this is the tree-level Compton amplitude.

To prove the incoming Ward identity, replace $ϵ$ by $k$ and write $R(q)=(/q+m)/(q^2-m^2)$, with the Feynman boundary prescription understood. The physical nonzero-photon kinematics keeps these tree denominators off the Electron pole. Sincethe external Dirac equations implyTherefore the two contracted terms are $\bar{u}(p^{\prime })/{ϵ}^{\prime \ast }u(p)$ and its negative, and cancel. By linearity,This is the two-photon fermion Ward identity. An analogous cancellation holds for the outgoing photon. Gauge-equivalent polarization representatives have the same scattering amplitude, so a longitudinal pure-gauge component is not an extra physical photon state. Individual diagrams do not generally satisfy this identity; their sum does.

For perturbative order, each elementary QED vertex has one photon leg. If $I_{\gamma }$ is the number of internal photon lines and $E_{\gamma }=2$, the vertex parity of a QED amplitude givesThus there is no third-order contribution. At fourth order, $V=4$ and, counting all three legs per vertex with four external legs, $I=(3V-4)/2=4$. A connected graph has loop number $I-V+1=1$.

The nonzero one-loop classes on the open Electron line are an internal-electron self-energy insertion, a vertex correction at either external-photon vertex, and a virtual photon spanning both photon vertices, giving the four-point box class. The first figure sketches each class for one photon ordering; interchange the two external photon attachments for its crossed partner. This yields two internal-self-energy graphs, four vertex graphs and two spanning-box graphs. They use the usual photon propagator, for example $-i{g}_{\mu \nu }/({\ell }^2+i0)$ in Feynman gauge.

For completeness, one-loop diagram classes for Compton scattering also depend on whether one is drawing an unamputated correlation function or a physical amplitude. Electron self-energies can be attached to either external Electron leg, and photon vacuum polarization can be attached to either external photon leg, for both photon orders. In an on-shell renormalized S-matrix, these are accounted for by LSZ reduction and external-field residues rather than counted again as independent amputated graphs. Photon-leg corrections are not vacuum-polarization insertions on an internal Born photon: there is no such Born line.

At the same fourth order, a renormalized calculation has one mass or electron-field counterterm on the internal Electron line, or one vertex counterterm at either Born vertex; the crossed partners are included. Each counterterm is a relative order-$e^2$ correction to the order-$e^2$ tree amplitude. External-field normalization must follow the same convention.

A possible closed Electron loop with three photon vertices, linked to the external Electron line by a virtual photon, cancels between its two orientations by Furry's theorem. Transposing the loop and using $C^{-1}{\gamma }^{\mu }C=-({\gamma }^{\mu }{)}^T$ gives an extra sign $(-1{)}^3$, so its orientation-reversed partner is its negative. A one-photon tadpole likewise vanishes. Disconnected vacuum bubbles are removed by vacuum normalization. The first genuine radiative corrections are fourth order, with the internal self-energy, vertex and spanning-box classes and their consistently included renormalization terms.

In quantum electrodynamics, gauge invariance connects local phase freedom, electric-charge conservation and the restrictions on photon interactions. For definiteness takeThe gauge transformationhas $D_{\mu }\psi \mapsto e^{-ie\alpha }{D}_{\mu }\psi$: the derivative of the local phase cancels the added gauge potential. Also $F_{\mu \nu }$ is unchanged because mixed partial derivatives commute. Consequently every term in the Lagrangian density is invariant. This derives the minimal electromagnetic coupling of a Dirac field, including the interaction $-e\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\mu }\psi A_{\mu }$. A fermion mass is compatible with the symmetry, whereas a local Proca photon mass $m_{\gamma }^2{A}_{\mu }{A}^{\mu }/2$ is not.

The classical Maxwell equations are ${\partial }_{\mu }{F}^{\mu \nu }=j^{\nu }$, with $j^{\nu }=e\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\nu }\psi$. Taking a divergence gives ${\partial }_{\nu }{j}^{\nu }=0$ because $F^{\mu \nu }$ is antisymmetric. The same conservation law follows directly from the charged Dirac equation and its adjoint. For vanishing flux at spatial infinity, $Q=\int d^{3}x{j}^0$ is conserved. Gauss law identifies this charge with the electric flux through a surrounding surface. Particle-antiparticle creation is allowed, but its net electric charge is zero.

Local gauge invariance is also a redundancy in the potentials, rather than an extra propagating degree of freedom. The canonical momentum of $A_0$ vanishes, and its field equation enforces the Gauss law constraint in gauge theory, $\nabla \cdot \mathbf{E}=j^0$. After imposing the constraint and quotienting gauge freedom, a massless photon has two transverse physical polarizations. Gauge transformations vanishing at the boundary identify equivalent descriptions; constant phase transformations at infinity can act on charged states and generate their conserved charge. This distinction explains why gauge redundancy and electric charge are compatible.

In perturbative QED, the quadratic photon operator cannot be inverted before gauge fixing. Adding $-({\partial }_{\mu }{A}^{\mu }{)}^2/(2\xi )$ gives the covariant gauge propagatorThis propagator contains longitudinal and timelike components, but these are not external physical photon states. A Gupta-Bleuler null-state quotient, or the equivalent BRST construction, removes them. In linear Lorenz gauge, $\delta ({\partial }_{\mu }{A}^{\mu })=\square \alpha$, so the Faddeev-Popov determinant is independent of $A_{\mu }$ and the Faddeev-Popov ghost fields decouple. This last statement concerns the linear gauge; Abelian gauge groups alone do not guarantee decoupling in a nonlinear gauge condition.

At the quantum level, the vector symmetry gives a Ward identity. One way to obtain it is to change variables by a localized phase in a time-ordered correlation function containing $\psi (y)$ and $\bar{\psi }(z)$. The action variation becomes a current divergence; the two field insertions contribute opposite contact terms, since their charges are opposite. Fourier transformation turns the divergence into the photon momentum, and amputating the external fermion propagators turns the two contact terms into the difference of their inverse propagators. With the charge removed from the proper vertex and the overall propagator factor $i$ removed from its inverse, the result is the proper-vertex Ward-Takahashi identity in QEDAt tree level this is simply $k_{\mu }{\gamma }^{\mu }=(/p+/k-m)-(/p-m)$. Between on-shell external spinors, the inverse propagators vanish, so the full physical scattering amplitude satisfies $k_{\mu }{\mathcal{M}}^{\mu }=0$. Therefore replacing a photon polarization vector by ${\epsilon }_{\mu }+c{k}_{\mu }$ leaves the amplitude unchanged. The identity applies to the complete required sum of diagrams, not necessarily each diagram separately. It also ensures cancellation of the gauge parameter from physical observables when all terms at the chosen perturbative order are included.

For the photon two-point function, the Ward identity implies transverse photon vacuum polarization:Thus ultraviolet subtraction renormalizes the gauge-invariant kinetic term, rather than requiring a local photon-mass counterterm. Perturbative unbroken QED retains a massless photon. Transversality by itself would not exclude a nonlocal massless pole in a different theory; the assertion here includes the perturbative QED setting.

Taking $k\to 0$ in the proper-vertex identity gives ${\Gamma }^{\mu }(p,p)=\partial S^{-1}(p)/\partial p_{\mu }$. Matching the divergent coefficients of the derivative and vertex terms yields the Ward identity for QED renormalization constants, $Z_1=Z_2$, in a gauge-preserving prescription. If ${\psi }_0=\sqrt{Z_2}\psi$ and $A_0=\sqrt{Z_3}A$, comparison of the interaction coefficients givesHence charge renormalization is fixed by photon wave-function renormalization. Gauge invariance constrains counterterms and relates renormalizations; it does not make the electric charge independent of scale.

The Soft photon theorem gives another physical manifestation. Attaching a photon of small momentum $k$ to the external charged legs gives the leading factorwhere $Q_i$ is charge in units of $e$ and ${\eta }_i=+1$ for outgoing and $-1$ for incoming legs. Replacing $\epsilon$ by $k$ makes this factor proportional to ${\sum }_i{\eta }_i{Q}_i$, which vanishes by electric charge conservation. Massless photons also cause infrared divergences; physical inclusive measurements combine unresolved real emission with virtual corrections, rather than treating either contribution alone as an observable.

Finally, the vector gauge symmetry of a Dirac fermion in QED is anomaly-free, so it can be maintained by regularization and renormalization. This must be distinguished from the axial current: its divergence has explicit mass terms, as in Question 3, and can additionally have a quantum chiral anomaly. Conservation of the gauge current does not imply axial-current conservation. The resulting picture is that gauge invariance simultaneously organizes the physical photon states, enforces electric-charge conservation and ties together amplitudes and ultraviolet subtractions.

For quantum electrodynamics, $j^{\mu }=\bar{\psi }{\gamma }^{\mu }\psi$ is an operator built from a dynamical Dirac field. Integrating over $\psi ,\bar{\psi }$ generates arbitrarily high powers of $e$, so the Gaussian-source truncation fails.

For the connected photon two-point function, the required diagrams through $e^4$ are: the bare photon line at $e^0$; one fermion-loop photon vacuum polarization insertion at $e^2$; and at $e^4$, a photon line with two successive one-loop polarization insertions together with the two-loop one-particle-irreducible fermion loop whose loop contains one internal photon chord. The latter includes the cyclic placements conventionally interpreted as self-energy and vertex corrections. Counterterm insertions must be added in a renormalized calculation. Disconnected vacuum bubbles cancel against the vacuum normalization.