A segment-local Ward–Takahashi cancellation makes the fermion self-energy equal to its Feynman-gauge value off shell, yielding a gauge-invariant, on-shell-renormalized mass function m(q).
The Gauge-Invariant Mass Function
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In gauge theories, the mass of a field has been regarded as a purely on-shell concept: the pole mass is gauge-invariant, but the off-shell propagator has had no gauge-invariant definition of mass. We show that renormalization defines a gauge-invariant mass function at every virtuality, together with a gauge-invariant vertex. The virtual particle becomes as well defined as the on-shell one: the distinction is not dynamical but purely kinematic.
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Gauge-Invariant Off-Shell Mass
A segment-local Ward–Takahashi cancellation makes the fermion self-energy equal to its Feynman-gauge value off shell, yielding a gauge-invariant, on-shell-renormalized mass function m(q).