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Propagator of a massive charged vector boson in a magnetic field: Ritus eigenfunction method

Manuel Emiliano Monreal Cancino* and Angel Sánchez†

  • *Contact author: emilianomonreal@ciencias.unam.mx
  • †Contact author: ansac@ciencias.unam.mx
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 116027 – Published 17 June, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5jyf-llwf

Abstract

In this work, we derive the propagator of a massive charged vector boson in the presence of a homogeneous and constant magnetic field of arbitrary strength, working in the unitary gauge and in the mostly minus metric. The propagator is constructed using the Ritus eigenfunction method, which allows for an explicit treatment of Landau-level quantization and spin degrees of freedom. We present a detailed analysis of the polarization vectors for all Landau levels. Using the Ritus representation, we formulate and derive the LSZ reduction formula for massive charged vector bosons in a magnetic field background, providing a useful tool for the calculation of self-energies and radiative corrections with external charged states. Furthermore, we establish a systematic connection between the Ritus’s eigenfunctions and Schwinger proper-time representations of the propagator, identifying Schwinger’s phase and exhibiting a slight discrepancy with previous results in the literature that arise in the unitary gauge, highlighting the importance of a careful treatment of spin and gauge structures in an external magnetic field.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 116027– Published 17 June, 2026
  • Received 4 March 2026
  • Accepted 7 May 2026
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