Constraints and Hamiltonian in Light-Front Quantized Field Theory

Abstract

Self-consistent Hamiltonian formulation of scalar theory on the null plane is constructed following Dirac method. The theory contains also {\it constraint equations}. They would give, if solved, to a nonlinear and nonlocal Hamiltonian. The constraints lead us in the continuum to a different description of spontaneous symmetry breaking since, the symmetry generators now annihilate the vacuum. In two examples where the procedure lacks self-consistency, the corresponding theories are known ill-defined from equal-time quantization. This lends support to the method adopted where both the background field and the fluctuation above it are treated as dynamical variables on the null plane. We let the self-consistency of the Dirac procedure determine their properties in the quantized theory. The results following from the continuum and the discretized formulations in the infinite volume limit do agree.