Topic summary

Renormalization group

Renormalization group

Concept in theoretical physics Renormalization and regularization RenormalizationRenormalization group On-shell scheme Minimal subtraction scheme RegularizationDimensional regularization Pauli–Villars regularization Lattice regularization Zeta function regularization Causal perturbation theory Hadamard regularization Point-splitting regularization vte In theoretical physics, the renormalization group (RG) is a mathematical tool that allows systematic investigation into the changes in a physical system as it is viewed at different scales. The scales of the system typically describe the interactions of the objects; they may be variable ("running") couplings which measure the strength of various forces, mass parameters, or the size of the system. The renormalization group is related to scale invariance and conformal invariance, symmetries in which a system exhibits self-similarity; in some cases, the parameters of the model can be assigned to special values, known as a "fixed point", where the field theory is conformally invariant and any running couplings cease to change. In particle physics, this treatment reflects the changes in the underlying physical laws (codified in a quantum