On the canonical quantization of the electromagnetic field and the emergence of gauge invariance

Abstract

In the framework of the canonical quantization of the electromagnetic field, we impose as primary condition on the dynamics the positive definiteness of the energy spectrum. This implies that (Glauber) coherent states have to be considered for the longitudinal and the scalar photon fields. As a result we obtain that the relation holds which in the traditional approach is called the Gupta-Bleuler condition. Gauge invariance emerges as a property of the physical states. The group structure of the theory is recognized to be the one of $SU(2) \otimes SU(1,1)$.