YANG-MILLS THEORY WITHOUT MANDELSTAM CONSTRAINTS

We continue our investigation of the SU(2) lattice gauge theory in ter ms of an independent set of gauge-invariant Wilson loops. It is demons trated how the standard measure of the gauge-covariant formulation can be transformed to a loop-variable measure. Explicit calculations in t wo and three dimensions illustrate the validity of our approach. We so lve the 1 x 1 theory in terms of loop variables, and discuss the deriv ation of the classical equations of motion and possible consequences f or the continuum theory.