  We have verified various proposals that were suggested in our last paper
concerning the continuum limit of a compact formulation of the lattice U(1)
pure gauge theory in 4 dimensions using a nonperturbative gauge-fixed
regularization. Our study reveals that most of the speculations are largely
correct. We find clear evidence of a continuous phase transition in the pure
gauge theory at "arbitrarily" large couplings. When probed with quenched
staggered fermions with U(1) charge, the theory clearly has a chiral transition
for large gauge couplings whose intersection with the phase transition in the
pure gauge theory continues to be a promising area for nonperturbative physics.
We probe the nature of the continuous phase transition by looking at gauge
field propagators in the momentum space and locate the region on the critical
manifold where free photons can be recovered.
