Bogolyubov renormalization group and symmetry of solution in mathematical physics

Evolution of the concept known in the theoretical physics as the Renormalization Group (RG) is presented. The corresponding symmetry, that has been first introduced in QFT in mid-fifties, is a continuous symmetry of a solution with respect to transformation involving parameters (e.g., of boundary condition) specifying some particular solution. After short detour into Wilson's discrete semi-group, we follow the expansion of QFT RG and argue that the underlying transformation, being considered as a reparametrization one, is closely related to the self-similarity property. It can be treated as its generalization, the Functional Self-similarity (FS). Then, we review the essential progress during the last decade of the FS concept in application to boundary value problem formulated in terms of differential equations. A summary of a regular approach recently devised for discovering the RG = FS symmetries with the help of the modern Lie group analysis and some of its applications are given. As a main physical illustration, we give application of a new approach to solution for a problem of self-focusing laser beam in a nonlinear medium