Two-loop renormalization in the Standard Model. Part I: Prolegomena ☆

In this paper the building blocks for the two-loop renormalization of the Standard Model are introduced with a comprehensive discussion of the special vertices induced in the Lagrangian by a particular diagonalization of the neutral sector and by two alternative treatments of the Higgs tadpoles. Dyson resummed propagators for the gauge bosons are derived, and two-loop Ward–Slavnov–Taylor identities are discussed. In part II, the complete set of counterterms needed for the two-loop renormalization will be derived. In part III, a renormalization scheme will be introduced, connecting the renormalized quantities to an input parameter set of (pseudo-)experimental data, critically discussing renormalization of a gauge theory with unstable particles.