AMBIGUITIES IN QED - RENORMALONS VERSUS TRIVIALITY

We point out that, contrary to what is believed to hold for QCD, renor malons are genuine in QED; i.e. the ambiguities which come with them d o not require cancellation by hypothetical non-perturbative contributi ons. They are just the ambiguities characteristic of any trivial - and thus effective - theory. If QED remained an isolated theory up to an energy close to its triviality scale, these ambiguities would surely h int at new physics. This not being so, the renormalon ambiguities in Q ED lead to no new physics, not even to non-perturbative contributions within QED itself.