AVOIDING THE GRIBOV PROBLEM BY DYNAMICAL GAUGE-FIXING

We present a method to quantize SU(N) gauge theories which does not us e gauge fixing, and therefore circumvents the problematics around gaug e fixing and Gribov copying. The method is illustrated in the Abelian theory where no Gribov ambiguity is present, and it is shown to be equ ivalent to Landau gauge fixing in this case. It is shown that there ar e fundamental differences between Abelian and non-Abelian theories. Th ese differences imply that in Abelian theories the gauge particle must be massless, but this is not necessarily true in non-Abelian theories .