Four-dimensional heavy-fermion QED is studied in light-cone coordinates with (anti)periodic field boundary conditions. We carry out a consistent light-cone canonical quantization of this model using the Dirac algorithm for a system with first- and second-class constraints. To examine the role of the zero modes, we consider the quantization procedure in the zero mode and the nonzero-mode sectors separately. In both sectors we obtain the physical variables and their canonical commutation relations. The physical Hamiltonian is constructed via a step-by-step exclusion of the unphysical degrees of freedom. An example using this Hamiltonian in which the zero modes play a role is the verification of the correct Coulomb potential between two heavy fermions.

• Received 19 April 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.48.5873