PATH-INTEGRAL QUANTIZATION OF ELECTRODYNAMICS IN DIELECTRIC MEDIA

In the present paper we study the Faddeev-Popov path-integral quantiza tion of electrodynamics in an inhomogeneous dielectric medium. We quan tize all polarizations of the photons and introduce the corresponding ghost fields. Using the heat kernel technique, we express the heat ker nel coefficients in terms of the dielectricity epsilon(x) and calculat e the ultraviolet divergent terms in the effective action. No cancella tion between ghosts and 'non-physical' degrees of freedom of the photo n is observed.