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Hence, the actual value of the coupling constant is only defined at a given energy scale. In QCD, the Z boson mass scale is typically chosen, providing a value of the strong coupling constant of α s (M Z 2) = 0.1179 ± 0.0010. [7] In 2023 Atlas measured α s (M Z 2) = 0.1183 ± 0.0009 the most precise so far.
written in terms of the fine structure constant in natural units, α = e 2 /4π. [2] This beta function tells us that the coupling increases with increasing energy scale, and QED becomes strongly coupled at high energy. In fact, the coupling apparently becomes infinite at some finite energy, resulting in a Landau pole. However, one cannot ...
The values of under the flow are called running couplings. As was stated in the previous section, the most important information in the RG flow are its fixed points . The possible macroscopic states of the system, at a large scale, are given by this set of fixed points.
Richard Feynman, one of the originators and early developers of the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED), referred to the fine-structure constant in these terms: There is a most profound and beautiful question associated with the observed coupling constant, e – the amplitude for a real electron to emit or absorb a real photon. It is a ...
Because the theory is "sick" for any negative value of the coupling constant, the series does not converge but is at best an asymptotic series. From a modern perspective, we say that QED is not well defined as a quantum field theory to arbitrarily high energy. [30] The coupling constant runs to infinity at finite energy, signalling a Landau pole.
In a theory intended to represent a physical interaction where the coupling constant is known to be non-zero, Landau poles or triviality may be viewed as a sign of incompleteness in the theory. For example, QED is usually not believed [ citation needed ] to be a complete theory on its own, because it does not describe other fundamental ...
The running of the coupling constants, i.e. their scale dependence described by the renormalization group (RG), is thus special in its UV limit in the sense that all their dimensionless combinations remain finite. This suffices to avoid unphysical divergences, e.g. in scattering amplitudes.
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