Remark on the subtractive renormalization of the quadratically divergent scalar mass

The quadratically divergent scalar mass is subtractively renormalized unlike other divergences which are multiplicatively renormalized. We reexamine some technical aspects of the subtractive renormalization, in particular, the mass-independent renormalization of massive lambda phi(4) theory with higher derivative regularization. We then discuss an unconventional scheme to introduce the notion of renormalization point mu to the subtractive renormalization in a theory defined by a large fixed cutoff M. The resulting renormalization group equation generally becomes inhomogeneous, but it is transformed to be homogeneous. The renormalized scalar mass consists of two components in this scheme, one with the ordinary anomalous dimension and the other which is proportional to the renormalization scale mu. This scheme interpolates between the theory defined by dimensional regularization and the theory with unsubtracted quadratic divergences.