CHIRAL DYNAMICS AND FERMION MASS GENERATION IN 3-DIMENSIONAL GAUGE-THEORY

We examine the possibility of fermion mass generation in (2+1)-dimensi onal gauge theory from the current algebra point of view. In our appro ach the critical behavior is governed by the fluctuations of pions whi ch are the Goldstone bosons for chiral symmetry breaking. Our analysis supports the existence of an upper critical N(F) and exhibits the exp licit form of the gap equation as well as the form of the critical exp onent for the inverse correlation length of the order parameter.