QED out of matter

Abstract

The Wilsonian renormalization group implies that an arbitrary four dimensional field theory with an ultraviolet cutoff is equivalent to a theory which is renormalizable by power counting at energy scales much below the cutoff. This applies to any theory including those with non-renormalizable interactions as long as we fine-tune the mass parameters. We analyze two simple models with current-current interactions but without elementary gauge fields from this viewpoint. We show how to tune the parameters of the models so that they become equivalent to QED at energies much below the cutoff.