0000000000996460
AUTHOR
Johannes M. Henn
Analytic Form of the Two-Loop Planar Five-Gluon All-Plus-Helicity Amplitude in QCD
Virtual two-loop corrections to scattering amplitudes are a key ingredient to precision physics at collider experiments. We compute the full set of planar master integrals relevant to five-point functions in massless QCD, and use these to derive an analytical expression for the two-loop five-gluon all-plus-helicity amplitude. After subtracting terms that are related to the universal infrared and ultraviolet pole structure, we obtain a remarkably simple and compact finite remainder function, consisting only of dilogarithms.
Pentagon functions for massless planar scattering amplitudes
Loop amplitudes for massless five particle scattering processes contain Feynman integrals depending on the external momentum invariants: pentagon functions. We perform a detailed study of the analyticity properties and cut structure of these functions up to two loops in the planar case, where we classify and identify the minimal set of basis functions. They are computed from the canonical form of their differential equations and expressed in terms of generalized polylogarithms, or alternatively as one-dimensional integrals. We present analytical expressions and numerical evaluation routines for these pentagon functions, in all kinematical configurations relevant to five-particle scattering …
Evaluating Multiple Polylogarithm Values at Sixth Roots of Unity up to Weight Six
We evaluate multiple polylogarithm values at sixth roots of unity up to weight six, i.e. of the form $G(a_1,\ldots,a_w;1)$ where the indices $a_i$ are equal to zero or a sixth root of unity, with $a_1\neq 1$. For $w\leq 6$, we present bases of the linear spaces generated by the real and imaginary parts of $G(a_1,\ldots,a_w;1)$ and present a table for expressing them as linear combinations of the elements of the bases.
Subleading Regge limit from a soft anomalous dimension
Wilson lines capture important features of scattering amplitudes, for example soft effects relevant for infrared divergences, and the Regge limit. Beyond the leading power approximation, corrections to the eikonal picture have to be taken into account. In this paper, we study such corrections in a model of massive scattering amplitudes in N = 4 super Yang-Mills, in the planar limit, where the mass is generated through a Higgs mechanism. Using known three-loop analytic expressions for the scattering amplitude, we find that the first power suppressed term has a very simple form, equal to a single power law. We propose that its exponent is governed by the anomalous dimension of a Wilson loop w…
Matter Dependence of the Four-Loop Cusp Anomalous Dimension
We compute analytically the matter-dependent contributions to the quartic Casimir term of the four-loop light-like cusp anomalous dimension in QCD, with $n_f$ fermion and $n_s$ scalar flavours. The result is extracted from the double pole of a scalar form factor. We adopt a new strategy for the choice of master integrals with simple analytic and infrared properties, which significantly simplifies our calculation. To this end we first identify a set of integrals whose integrands have a dlog form, and are hence expected to have uniform transcendental weight. We then perform a systematic analysis of the soft and collinear regions of loop integration and build linear combinations of integrals w…
Analytic result for a two-loop five-particle amplitude
We compute the symbol of the full-color two-loop five-particle amplitude in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills, including all non-planar subleading-color terms. The amplitude is written in terms of permutations of Parke-Taylor tree-level amplitudes and pure functions to all orders in the dimensional regularization parameter, in agreement with previous conjectures. The answer has the correct collinear limits and infrared factorization properties, allowing us to define a finite remainder function. We study the multi-Regge limit of the non-planar terms, analyze its subleading power corrections, and present analytically the leading logarithmic terms.
Analytic result for the nonplanar hexa-box integrals.
In this paper, we analytically compute all master integrals for one of the two non-planar integral families for five-particle massless scattering at two loops. We first derive an integral basis of 73 integrals with constant leading singularities. We then construct the system of differential equations satisfied by them, and find that it is in canonical form. The solution space is in agreement with a recent conjecture for the non-planar pentagon alphabet. We fix the boundary constants of the differential equations by exploiting constraints from the absence of unphysical singularities. The solution of the differential equations in the Euclidean region is expressed in terms of iterated integral…
Four-gluon scattering at three loops, infrared structure and Regge limit
We compute the three-loop four-gluon scattering amplitude in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, including its full color dependence. Our result is the first complete computation of a non-planar four-particle scattering amplitude to three loops in four-dimensional gauge theory and consequently provides highly non-trivial data for the study of non-planar scattering amplitudes. We present the amplitude as a Laurent expansion in the dimensional regulator to finite order, with coefficients composed of harmonic poly-logarithms of uniform transcendental weight, and simple rational prefactors. Our computation provides an independent check of a recent result for three-loop corrections to th…
Analytic results for planar three-loop integrals for massive form factors
We use the method of differential equations to analytically evaluate all planar three-loop Feynman integrals relevant for form factor calculations involving massive particles. Our results for ninety master integrals at general $q^2$ are expressed in terms of multiple polylogarithms, and results for fiftyone master integrals at the threshold $q^2=4m^2$ are expressed in terms of multiple polylogarithms of argument one, with indices equal to zero or to a sixth root of unity.
Implications of nonplanar dual conformal symmetry
Recently, Bern et al observed that a certain class of next-to-planar Feynman integrals possess a bonus symmetry that is closely related to dual conformal symmetry. It corresponds to a projection of the latter along a certain lightlike direction. Previous studies were performed at the level of the loop integrand, and a Ward identity for the integral was formulated. We investigate the implications of the symmetry at the level of the integrated quantities. In particular, we focus on the phenomenologically important case of five-particle scattering. The symmetry simplifies the four-variable problem to a three-variable one. In the context of the recently proposed space of pentagon functions, the…
Bootstrapping pentagon functions
In PRL 116 (2016) no.6, 062001, the space of planar pentagon functions that describes all two-loop on-shell five-particle scattering amplitudes was introduced. In the present paper we present a natural extension of this space to non-planar pentagon functions. This provides the basis for our pentagon bootstrap program. We classify the relevant functions up to weight four, which is relevant for two-loop scattering amplitudes. We constrain the first entry of the symbol of the functions using information on branch cuts. Drawing on an analogy from the planar case, we introduce a conjectural second-entry condition on the symbol. We then show that the information on the function space, when comple…
The two-loop five-particle amplitude in $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity
We compute for the first time the two-loop five-particle amplitude in $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity. Starting from the known integrand, we perform an integration-by-parts reduction and express the answer in terms of uniform weight master integrals. The latter are known to evaluate to non-planar pentagon functions, described by a 31-letter symbol alphabet. We express the final result for the amplitude in terms of uniform weight four symbols, multiplied by a small set of rational factors. The amplitude satisfies the expected factorization properties when one external graviton becomes soft, and when two external gravitons become collinear. We verify that the soft divergences of the amplitude ex…
Scattering Amplitudes from Superconformal Ward Identities
We consider finite superamplitudes of N=1 matter, and use superconformal symmetry to derive powerful first-order differential equations for them. Because of on-shell collinear singularities, the Ward identities have an anomaly, which is obtained from lower-loop information. We show that in the five-particle case, the solution to the equations is uniquely fixed by the expected analytic behavior. We apply the method to a nonplanar two-loop five-particle integral. We consider finite superamplitudes of N=1 matter, and use superconformal symmetry to derive powerful first-order differential equations for them. Due to on-shell collinear singularities, the Ward identities have an anomaly, which is …
Matter dependence of the four-loop QCD cusp anomalous dimension: from small angles to all angles
We compute the fermionic contributions to the cusp anomalous dimension in QCD at four loops as an expansion for small cusp angle. As a byproduct we also obtain the respective terms of the four-loop HQET wave function anomalous dimension. Our new results at small angles provide stringent tests of a recent conjecture for the exact angle dependence of the matter terms in the four-loop cusp anomalous dimension. We find that the conjecture does not hold for two of the seven fermionic color structures, but passes all tests for the remaining terms. This provides strong support for the validity of the corresponding conjectured expressions with full angle dependence. Taking the limit of large Minkow…
Amplitudes from superconformal Ward identities
We consider finite superamplitudes of N=1 matter, and use superconformal symmetry to derive powerful first-order differential equations for them. Due to on-shell collinear singularities, the Ward identities have an anomaly, which is obtained from lower-loop information. We show that in the five-particle case, the solution to the equations is uniquely fixed by the expected analytic behavior. We apply the method to a non-planar two-loop five-particle integral.
Analytic form of the full two-loop five-gluon all-plus helicity amplitude
We compute the full-color two-loop five-gluon amplitude for the all-plus helicity configuration. In order to achieve this, we calculate the required master integrals for all permutations of the external legs, in the physical scattering region. We verify the expected divergence structure of the amplitude, and extract the finite hard function. We further validate our result by checking the factorization properties in the collinear limit. Our result is fully analytic and valid in the physical scattering region. We express it in a compact form containing logarithms, dilogarithms and rational functions.
Applications of integrand reduction to two-loop five-point scattering amplitudes in QCD
We review the current state-of-the-art in integrand level reduction for five-point scattering amplitudes at two loops in QCD. We present some benchmark results for the evaluation of the leading colour two-loop five-gluon amplitudes in the physical region as well as the partonic channels for two quarks and three gluons and four quarks and one gluon.
All Master Integrals for Three-Jet Production at Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order
We evaluate analytically all previously unknown nonplanar master integrals for massless five-particle scattering at two loops, using the differential equations method. A canonical form of the differential equations is obtained by identifying integrals with constant leading singularities, in D space-time dimensions. These integrals evaluate to Q-linear combinations of multiple polylogarithms of uniform weight at each order in the expansion in the dimensional regularization parameter and are in agreement with previous conjectures for nonplanar pentagon functions. Our results provide the complete set of two-loop Feynman integrals for any massless 2→3 scattering process, thereby opening up a ne…