A new perspective on renormalization: the scattering transformation

Abstract

The scattering transformation developed by Mallat is put into the perspective of field theory. It is shown to be a simultaneous transformation of the field and the "time" parameter explicitly used in the definition of path integrals central to the Lagrangian approach and in the definition of the "time" ordered products used in the Hamiltonian (or canonical) approach. This transformation preserves the form of the S-matrix as "time" ordered products. The transformed "time" coordinate is the inverse "time" scale. This is traditionally the UV cutoff or renormalization parameter in standard approaches to renormalization. The critical calculation will be the determination of the form of the effective action in this transformed coordinate system. This action will now be expressed as an integral of a Lagrangian density that is a function of the renormalization parameter or transformed "time". Other symmetries of the action can be explicitly built into the transformation. It will be demonstrated on a simple 1D $\phi^4$ field theory. This non-perturbative approach has great potential in possibly being used to renormalize quantum gravity and obtaining expressions for the strongly coupled limit of QCD.