A QED Formulation with Massive Photon Fields

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The discussion centers on the treatment of the photon field as a massive vector boson, as described in Veltman's "Diagrammatica," which addresses infrared divergences in quantum electrodynamics (QED). This approach, related to the Proca or Stückelberg formalism, allows for a gauge theory with massive gauge bosons. Participants seek further reading materials that explain this formulation in detail, as existing texts like Weinberg's are considered too technical. Recommendations for accessible sources that delve deeper into this topic are requested. The conversation emphasizes the need for clearer literature on the subject.
M91
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Massive QED formalism.
I was reading Diagrammatica by Veltman and he treats the photon field as a massive vector boson in which gauge invariance is disappeared and the propagator has a different expression than in massless photon. After some googling, I found that this is one way to formulate QED which has the advantage of taking care of IR divergences. I would like to read more about the subject. What is the name of such formalism? is there any kind of QFT book (article, paper..) which explains it in detail? I saw some comments in Weinberg's book but Weinberg is too technical for me. Any sources would be appreciated.
 
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The word you want is "Proca".
 
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or rather Stückelberg, who has shown that for the Abelian case you can have a gauge theory with massive gauge bosons.
 
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vanhees71 said:
or rather Stückelberg, who has shown that for the Abelian case you can have a gauge theory with massive gauge bosons.
Thanks! I was hoping to get an answer from you, as you always put me in the right direction. Do you also happen to know a reference that discusses this topic in detail rather than books only highlighting this mechanism?
 
We often see discussions about what QM and QFT mean, but hardly anything on just how fundamental they are to much of physics. To rectify that, see the following; https://www.cambridge.org/engage/api-gateway/coe/assets/orp/resource/item/66a6a6005101a2ffa86cdd48/original/a-derivation-of-maxwell-s-equations-from-first-principles.pdf 'Somewhat magically, if one then applies local gauge invariance to the Dirac Lagrangian, a field appears, and from this field it is possible to derive Maxwell’s...