PERTURBATIVE RENORMALIZATION OF NULL-PLANE QED

It has been recognized for some time that quantization on a null plane has several unique and remarkable advantages for the elucidation of quantum field theories. To date these unique features have not been exploited to solve strongly coupled, four-dimensional gauge theories. This is the first in a series of papers aimed at systematically formulating renormalizable gauge theories on the null plane. In order to lay down the groundwork for upcoming nonperturbative studies, it is indispensable to gain control over the perturbative treatment first. A discussion of one-loop renormalization of QED in the Hamiltonian formalism is presented. In this approach, one is faced with severe infrared divergences characteristic of the light-cone gauge. We show how to treat these divergences in a coherent fashion, and thus recover the usual results of the renormalization procedure such as Ward identities and coupling-constant renormalizations.