Renormalization in Quantum Field Theory and the Riemann--Hilbert Problem II: The β-Function, Diffeomorphisms and the Renormalization Group

Abstract

We showed in part I (hep-th/9912092) that the Hopf algebra ${\cal H}$ of Feynman graphs in a given QFT is the algebra of coordinates on a complex infinite dimensional Lie group $G$ and that the renormalized theory is obtained from the unrenormalized one by evaluating at $\ve=0$ the holomorphic part $\gamma_+(\ve)$ of the Riemann-Hilbert decomposition $\gamma_-(\ve)^{-1}\gamma_+(\ve)$ of the loop $\gamma(\ve)\in G$ provided by dimensional regularization. We show in this paper that the group $G$ acts naturally on the complex space $X$ of dimensionless coupling constants of the theory. More precisely, the formula $g_0=gZ_1Z_3^{-3/2}$ for the effective coupling constant, when viewed as a formal power series, does define a Hopf algebra homomorphism between the Hopf algebra of coordinates on the group of formal diffeomorphisms to the Hopf algebra ${\cal H}$. This allows first of all to read off directly, without using the group $G$, the bare coupling constant and the renormalized one from the Riemann-Hilbert decomposition of the unrenormalized effective coupling constant viewed as a loop of formal diffeomorphisms. This shows that renormalization is intimately related with the theory of non-linear complex bundles on the Riemann sphere of the dimensional regularization parameter $\ve$. It also allows to lift both the renormalization group and the $\beta$-function as the asymptotic scaling in the group $G$. This exploits the full power of the Riemann-Hilbert decomposition together with the invariance of $\gamma_-(\ve)$ under a change of unit of mass. This not only gives a conceptual proof of the existence of the renormalization group but also delivers a scattering formula in the group $G$ for the full higher pole structure of minimal subtracted counterterms in terms of the residue.