Spinor Bethe-Salpeter equation with generalized ladder kernels and the Goldstein problem

The spinor Bethe-Salpeter equation is investigated for tightly bound fermion pairs. The covariant interaction kernel contains contributions of vector and axial-vector gluons within the framework of the Stückelberg formalism. The free gluon propagators of the strict ladder approximation are replaced by a convenient spectral form. This generalized ladder model can be extended to a large class of gauge field theories by specifying the spectral functions. The model-independent O(4) analysis of the Wick-rotated wave functions is carried out by using a complete set of four-dimensional scalar, vector, and tensor spherical harmonics. At vanishing center-of-mass energy, the radial Bethe-Salpeter equations can be classified in six disconnected sectors. All these equations are recorded in a general form which provides a study of the gauge dependence of the wave functions at short distances. Illustrative calculations are based on a simple Abelian field theory. In two Goldstein equations the leading singular term of the kernel may be absent by cancellation. In addition, one obtains a generalized Goldstein equation in which the kernel includes a gauge-independent marginally singular term. It is discussed how corrections of the large-distance behavior of the singular Goldstein kernel can lead to normalizable bound-state solutions without introducing a short-distance cutoff. Exact and numerical solutions are presented by using a simple parametrization of the kernel. In other sectors, the noncanonical angular behavior of the solutions may be avoided by prescribing a complex mass for the Stückelberg ghosts.