Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Speaker: Howard E. Haber (UC, Santa Cruz)
Abstract: The stability of tree-level relations among the parameters of a quantum field theory with respect to renormalization group (RG) running is typically explained by the existence of a symmetry. We have examined a toy model of a quantum field theory of two real scalar fields in which a tree-level relation among the squared-mass parameters of the scalar potential appears to be RG-stable without the presence of an underlying symmetry. Previous authors have argued that a new (rather bizarre) symmetry exists that can be invoked to explain the RG-stability of the tree-level parameter relations. In this talk, I explain why the “symmetry” invoked by these authors is not legitimate. Instead, I argue that the RG-stability can be understood by considering symmetries of an associated model where the scalar fields of the original model are complexified.
Speaker: Howard E. Haber (UC, Santa Cruz)
Abstract: The stability of tree-level relations among the parameters of a quantum field theory with respect to renormalization group (RG) running is typically explained by the existence of a symmetry. We have examined a toy model of a quantum field theory of two real scalar fields in which a tree-level relation among the squared-mass parameters of the scalar potential appears to be RG-stable without the presence of an underlying symmetry. Previous authors have argued that a new (rather bizarre) symmetry exists that can be invoked to explain the RG-stability of the tree-level parameter relations. In this talk, I explain why the “symmetry” invoked by these authors is not legitimate. Instead, I argue that the RG-stability can be understood by considering symmetries of an associated model where the scalar fields of the original model are complexified.
