CONNECTION BETWEEN THE PINCH TECHNIQUE AND THE BACKGROUND FIELD METHOD

The connection between the pinch technique and the background field method is further explored. We show by explicit calculations that the application of the pinch technique in the framework of the background field method gives rise to exactly the same results as in the linear renormalizable gauges. The general method for extending the pinch technique to the case of Green's functions with off-shell fermions as incoming particles is presented. As an example, the one-loop gauge-independent quark self-energy is constructed. We briefly discuss the possibility that the gluonic Green's functions, obtained by either method, correspond to physical quantities. © 1995 The American Physical Society.