Chiral dynamics and fermion mass generation in three-dimensional gauge theory

We examine the possibility of fermion mass generation in (2+1)-dimensional gauge theory from the current algebra point of view. In our approach the critical behavior is governed by the fluctuations of pions which are the Goldstone bosons for chiral symmetry breaking. Our analysis supports the existence of an upper critical ${\mathit{N}}_{\mathit{F}}$ and exhibits the explicit form of the gap equation as well as the form of the critical exponent for the inverse correlation length of the order parameter.