GAUGE FIXING AND CANONICAL QUANTIZATION

We study the canonical quantization of non-Abelian gauge fields in the temporal gauge A0=0. We impose the constraint condition of Gauss's law by performing a point transformation into any of a large class of noncovariant gauges. The Faddeev and Popov operator arises naturally in this procedure; indeed, we prove the equivalence of all gauges in this class. We discuss the nonexistence of some simple gauges and show how topological considerations reduce the theory to quantum mechanics on an infinite-dimensional periodic hypersurface. © 1979 The American Physical Society.