Worldline einbein ($e(t)$)

An einbein specifies a one-dimensional metric tensor along a worldline. In the relativistic particle phase-space action it is the Lagrange multiplier for the mass-shell condition and transforms as $\delta e=\dot{ϵ}$ under the corresponding canonical gauge transformation. After eliminating the momentum, its geometric interpretation depends on the normalization of the particle action.

For the relativistic particle action $S=(m/2)\int [g_{\mu \nu }{\dot{x}}^{\mu }{\dot{x}}^{\nu }/e-e]d\lambda$, varying the worldline einbein gives $g_{\mu \nu }{\dot{x}}^{\mu }{\dot{x}}^{\nu }=-e^2$. On the positive-einbein branch the proper time satisfies $ds=ed\lambda$. A reparametrization with ${\lambda }^{\prime }=s$ sets the transformed einbein to one, making the geodesic equation affinely parametrized. This gauge choice is made after retaining the einbein mass shell constraint; fixing the action first would discard that equation. If the parameter interval is held fixed at both ends, its integrated proper length is a modulus and cannot be arbitrarily changed by endpoint-preserving transformations.

The constant mode of the worldline einbein is not removed by gauge transformations whose parameters vanish at the ends of a fixed interval. This Schwinger proper-time parameter remains integrated over after gauge fixing. For $\phi =(p^2+M^2)/2$, the geometric on-shell proper length is $M\int edt$.

On a unit interval with gauge parameters vanishing at its ends, $e=s+\dot{ϵ}$ separates the worldline einbein into its invariant average $s$ and a canonical gauge transformation. The Jacobian for nonconstant modes is $\det {\partial }_t$ between the appropriate boundary-condition spaces. On a circle its prime excludes the constant gauge-parameter zero mode. This Faddeev-Popov determinant can be represented by anticommuting $b,c$ fields with an action proportional to $\int b\dot{c}dt$.