Renormalization Group Methods

Williams, Porter

doi:10.4324/9781315623818-26

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…A coupling that is marginal to first order in perturbation theory may be either relevant or irrelevant at higher-orders; these are termed marginally relevant or marginally irrelevant, respectively (cf. Williams (2018) for further discussion of these distinctions in QFT). Importantly, these distinctions apply to either full-or semi-RG transformations.…”

Section: Bottom-up Construction: Efts As Standalone Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3.1). Later on, RG methods helped explain how renormalization works (Huggett and Weingard 1995), and the EFT framework now allows for nonrenormalizable terms in any effective theory (Weinberg 1979;Williams 2018). 9 But given the EFT perspective, one might wonder why the requirement of renormalizability led to successful theories that continue to hold up today.…”

Section: Explanatory Questions About Global Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

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Renormalization group methods and the epistemology of effective field theories

Koberinski

Fraser

2023

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

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Section: Bottom-up Construction: Efts As Standalone Theoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Explanatory Questions About Global Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Renormalization group methods and the epistemology of effective field theories

Koberinski

Fraser

2023

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

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“…Here, we aim to give a clear formulation of the problem within the EFT framework. We take a further step of arguing that the best solution to the problem is to dissolve it by rejecting (i) and (ii).8 See, in particular,Williams (2015Williams ( , 2021,Wallace (2021Wallace ( , 2019,Rivat (2019); Rosalerand Harlander (2019);Ruetsche (2020) for philosophical discussions most closely related to our concerns.9 Wallace considers "naturalness" in broader terms than we will here, applying the notion to probability distributions in statistical mechanics and the emergence of time-asymmetric macroscopic dynamics, as well as to QFTs.…”

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confidence: 99%

“… 8 See, in particular, Williams (2015, 2021), Wallace (2021, 2019), Rivat (2019); Rosalerand Harlander (2019); Ruetsche (2020) for philosophical discussions most closely related to our concerns. …”

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confidence: 99%

Λ and the Limits of Effective Field Theory

Koberinski

Smeenk

2022

Philos. sci.

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The cosmological constant problem stems from treating quantum field theory and general relativity as an effective field theory (EFT). We argue that the problem is a reductio ad absurdum, and that one should reject the assumption that general relativity can generically be treated as an EFT. This marks a failure of naturalness, and an internal signal that EFT methods do not apply in all spacetime domains. We then take an external view, showing that the assumptions for using EFTs are violated in general relativistic domains where Λ is relevant. We highlight some ways forward that do not depend on naturalness.

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“…See here, section 2 for a short description. A recent, detailed overview of RG methods, starting from the seminal contributions by M. Gell-Mann and F. Low, L. Kadano, M. Fisher and K. Wilson, with attention also to philosophical aspects, isWilliams (2021) Fraser (2020). provides a detailed reconstruction of the development of RG methods in particle physics, highlighting the role of formal analogies between classical SM and QFT.6 For what regards the development of the EFT idea and its relevance to the philosophical debate on intertheory relations (and the related debates on reduction, fundamentality and emergence), see, for instance,Cao and Schweber (1993);Hartmann (2001);Castellani (2002);Buttereld and Bouatta (2015),Rosaler and Harlander (2019).…”

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confidence: 99%