In effective field theory (EFT), non-renormalizable couplings characterized by negative mass dimensions imply that a quantum field theory loses predictive power at energy scales approaching the associated cutoff scale, rather than being fundamentally invalid. This principle establishes that such theories serve as low-energy approximations of more complete ultraviolet completions and allows for systematic perturbative calculations strictly within their domain of validity where expansion parameters are small. The framework formalizes how physical observables depend on high-scale physics only through finite numbers of operators at any given order in the energy-to-cutoff ratio, enabling robust phenomenological predictions despite the breakdown of perturbation theory near the cutoff.
In effective field theory (EFT), non-renormalizable couplings characterized by negative mass dimensions imply that a quantum field theory loses predictive power at energy scales approaching the assoc…