Renormalization group, causality, and nonpower perturbation expansion in QFT

The structure of the QFT expansion is studied in the framework of a new “invariant analytic” version of the perturbative QCD. Here, an invariant coupling constant α(Q ² /Λ ² ) = β ₁ α_s(Q ² )/(4π) becomes a Q ² -analytic invariant function α _an (Q²/Λ ² ) ≡A(x), which, by construction, is free of ghost singularities because it incorporates some nonperturbative structures. In the framework of the “analyticized” perturbation theory, an expansion for an observable F, instead of powers of the analytic invariant charge A(x), may contain specific functions A_n(x)=aⁿ(x)] _an , the “nth power of a(x) analyticized as a whole.” Functions A _n>2(x) for small Q² ≤Λ ² oscillate, which results in weak loop and scheme dependences. Because of the analyticity requirement, the perturbation series for F(x) becomes an asymptotic expansion à la Erdélyi using a nonpower set {A _n (x)}. The probable ambiguities of the invariant analyticization procedure and the possible inconsistency of some of its versions with the renormalization group structure are also discussed. Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 119, No. 1, pp. 55–66, April, 1999.