Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T02:15:30.303Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Infinite Renormalization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Paul Teller
Paul Teller*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy University of Illinois at Chicago
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In quantum field theory divergent expressions are “discarded”, leaving finite expressions which provide the best predictions anywhere in science. In fact, this “renormalization procedure” involves no mystery or illegitimate operations. This paper explains, in terms accessible to non-experts, how the procedure really works and explores some different ways in which physicists have suggested that one understand it.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 238 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

Many have helped me with this work, but I should especially mention the hours that Michael Redhead and Gordon Fleming have spent helping me learn this material. This work has been generously supported by NSF grant #SES-8217092.

References

REFERENCES

Conway, J. H. (1976), On Numbers and Games. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dirac, P. A. M. (1973), “Relativity and Quantum Mechanics”, in E. C. G. Sudarshan and Y. N'ehman (eds.), The Past Decade in Particle Theory. London: Gordon and Breach, pp. 747–773.Google Scholar
Feynman, R. P. (1963), Theory of Fundamental Processes. New York: W. A. Benjamin.Google Scholar
Feynman, R. P. (1985), QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ginsparg, P., and Glashow, S. (1986), “Desperately Seeking Super Strings?” Physics Today (May): 7–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Itzykson, C., and Zuber, J. (1980), Quantum Field Theory. New York: McGraw Hill.Google Scholar
Nash, C. (1978), Relativistic Quantum Fields. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sakurai, J. J. (1967), Advanced Quantum Mechanics. London: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Schweber, S. S. (1961), An Introduction to Relativistic Quantum Field Theory. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Teller, P. (1979), “Quantum Mechanics and the Nature of Continuous Physical Quantities”, Journal of Philosophy 76: 345–362.10.2307/2025451CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teller, P. (1988), “Three Problems of Renormalization”, in H. Brown and R. Harré (eds.), Philosophical Foundations of Quantum Field Theory. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 73–89.Google Scholar
Weinberg, S. (1980), “Conceptual Foundation of the Unified Theory of Weak and Electromagnetic Interactions”, Reviews of Modern Physics 52: 515–523.10.1103/RevModPhys.52.515CrossRefGoogle Scholar