Looking at QED with Dyson-Schwinger equations: basic equations, Ward-Takahashi identities and the two-photon-two-fermion irreducible vertex

Abstract: A minimal truncated set of the integral Dyson-Schwinger equations, in Minkowski spacetime, that allows to explore QED beyond its perturbative solution is derived for general linear covariant gauges. The minimal set includes the equations for the fermion and photon propagators, the photon-fermion vertex, and the two-photon-two-fermion one-particle-irreducible diagram. If the first three equations are exact, to build a closed set of equations, the two-photon-two-fermion equation is truncated ignoring the contribution of Green functions with large number of external legs. It is shown that the truncated equation for the two-photon-two-fermion vertex reproduces the lowest-order perturbative result in the limit of the small coupling constant. Furthermore, this equation allows to define an iterative procedure to compute higher order corrections in the coupling constant. The Ward-Takahashi identity for the two-photon-two-fermion irreducible vertex is derived and solved in the soft photon limit, where one of the photon momenta vanish, in the low photon momenta limit and for general kinematics. The solution of the Ward-Takahashi identity determines the longitudinal component of the two-photon-two-fermion irreducible vertex, while it is proposed to use the Dyson-Schwinger equation to determine the transverse part of this irreducible diagram. The two-photon-two-fermion DSE is solved in heavy fermion limit, considering a simplified version of the QED vertices. The contribution of this irreducible vertex to a low-energy effective photon-fermion vertex is discussed and the fermionic operators that are generated are computed in terms of the fermion propagator functions.