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The ref req tag and math phys tag does not apply. Read their wikis. Greetings not allowed.
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Qmechanic ♦
Qmechanic ♦
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Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why "renormalisation" is so named? Who first came up with the term, and why was it used? I did a mathematics undergraduate so to me "normalisation" means rescaling a Hilbert space vector to have unit norm.

Heuristically the term renormalisation makes some sense, as it is a systematic process for "normalising" divergent quantities to give well-defined probabilities. But it seems like a bad name to me, because it's patently impossible to truly "normalise" a divergent quantity. As far as I know, the correct perspective is that renormalisation replaces bare parameters by physical ones, thus removing the infinities.

Is there something I have misunderstood, or is that another case of historical contingency clouding the terminology. Surely "reparameterization" would be a better name? Many thanks in advance!

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why "renormalisation" is so named? Who first came up with the term, and why was it used? I did a mathematics undergraduate so to me "normalisation" means rescaling a Hilbert space vector to have unit norm.

Heuristically the term renormalisation makes some sense, as it is a systematic process for "normalising" divergent quantities to give well-defined probabilities. But it seems like a bad name to me, because it's patently impossible to truly "normalise" a divergent quantity. As far as I know, the correct perspective is that renormalisation replaces bare parameters by physical ones, thus removing the infinities.

Is there something I have misunderstood, or is that another case of historical contingency clouding the terminology. Surely "reparameterization" would be a better name? Many thanks in advance!

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why "renormalisation" is so named? Who first came up with the term, and why was it used? I did a mathematics undergraduate so to me "normalisation" means rescaling a Hilbert space vector to have unit norm.

Heuristically the term renormalisation makes some sense, as it is a systematic process for "normalising" divergent quantities to give well-defined probabilities. But it seems like a bad name to me, because it's patently impossible to truly "normalise" a divergent quantity. As far as I know, the correct perspective is that renormalisation replaces bare parameters by physical ones, thus removing the infinities.

Is there something I have misunderstood, or is that another case of historical contingency clouding the terminology. Surely "reparameterization" would be a better name?

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edit approved Jul 21, 2013 at 14:02
Asphir Dom
edit approved Jul 21, 2013 at 14:02
Asphir Dom
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Etymology of "Renomalisation""Renormalisation"

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Edward Hughes
Edward Hughes
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Etymology of "Renomalisation"

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know why "renormalisation" is so named? Who first came up with the term, and why was it used? I did a mathematics undergraduate so to me "normalisation" means rescaling a Hilbert space vector to have unit norm.

Heuristically the term renormalisation makes some sense, as it is a systematic process for "normalising" divergent quantities to give well-defined probabilities. But it seems like a bad name to me, because it's patently impossible to truly "normalise" a divergent quantity. As far as I know, the correct perspective is that renormalisation replaces bare parameters by physical ones, thus removing the infinities.

Is there something I have misunderstood, or is that another case of historical contingency clouding the terminology. Surely "reparameterization" would be a better name? Many thanks in advance!