  A three-dimensional reduction of the two-particle Bethe-Salpeter equation is
proposed. The proposed reduction is in the framework of light-front dynamics.
It yields auxiliary quantities for the transition matrix and the bound state.
The arising effective interaction can be perturbatively expanded according to
the number of particles exchanged at a given light-front time. An example
suggests that the convergence of the expansion is rapid. This result is
particular for light-front dynamics. The covariant results of the
Bethe-Salpeter equation can be recovered from the corresponding auxiliary
three-dimensional ones. The technical procedure is developed for a two-boson
case; the idea for an extension to fermions is given. The technical procedure
appears quite practicable, possibly allowing one to go beyond the ladder
approximation for the solution of the Bethe-Salpeter equation. The relation
between the three-dimensional light-front reduction of the field-theoretic
Bethe-Salpeter equation and a corresponding quantum-mechanical description is
discussed.
