Abstract
The effective gauge field action due to fermions coupled to gauge fields in three dimensions is found to change by under a homotopically nontrivial gauge transformation with winding number . This gauge noninvariance can be eliminated by adding a parity-violating topological term to the action, or by regulating the theory in a way which produces this term automatically in the effective action. The Euler-Heisenberg effective action is calculated in the SU(2) theory and in QED.
- Received 17 January 1984
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.29.2366
©1984 American Physical Society