Gauge Independence and Path Independence

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Abstract
Quantum electrodynamics is formulated in a gauge-independent as well as path-independent way. The theory is manifestly Lorentz covariant. It can be obtained from the path-dependent electrodynamics of Mandelstam by an averaging process. The commutation relations and propagators in this gauge-independent formulation correspond to those of the Landau gauge in the conventional theory, giving this gauge a fundamental significance. The method is also applied to the gauge-invariant theory of neutral vector mesons with nonvanishing mass interacting with a conserved current. The resulting theory is gauge-independent and describes a pure spin-1 particle, the spin-0 contributions being identically zero.