Particle Hamiltonian and perturbative gauge theories

We discuss the Hamiltonian formulation of the Schwinger proper-time method of culculating Green functions in gauge theories. Instead of calculating Feynman diagrams, we solve the corresponding Dyson-Schwinger equations. We express the solutions in terms of vertex operators, which consist of the zero modes of the vertex operators appearing in string theories. We show how color decomposition arises in this formalism at tree level. At the one-loop level, we arrive at expressions similar to those obtained in the background gauge. In both cases, no special gauge-fixing procedure is needed.