Gauge Invariant Massive Long Range and Long Lived Photons

Abstract

Prevailing and conventional wisdom holds that intermediate gauge Bosons for long range interactions such as the gravitational and electromagnetic interactions must be massless as is assumed to be the case for the photon which mediates the electromagnetic interaction. We have argued in a different reading that it should in-principle be possible to have massive photons. The problem of whether or not these photons will lead to short or long range interactions has not been answered. Naturally, because these photons are massive, one would without much pondering and excogitation on the matter assume that these photons can only take part in short range interactions. Contrary to this and to conventional wisdom; via a subtlety—namely, the foregoing of the Lorenz gauge and in line with ideas set out in out proposed Unified Field Theory , the introduction of a vector potential whose components are 4 × 4 Hermitian matrices; we show within the confines of Proca Electrodynamics under the said modifications that massive photons should be long lived ( i.e. , stable) and be able to take part in long range interactions without any problem.