A Generalization of Gauge Invariance

Abstract

We consider perturbative quantum field theory in the causal framework. Gauge invariance is, in this framework, an identity involving chronological products of the interaction Lagrangian; it express the fact that the scattering matrix must leave invariant the sub-space of physical states. We are interested in generalizations of such identity involving Wick sub-monomials of the interaction Lagrangian. The analysis can be performed by direct computation in the lower orders of perturbation theory; guided by these computations we conjecture a generalization for arbitrary orders.