One-loop QCD and Higgs bosons to partons processes using six-dimensional helicity and generalized unitarity

Abstract

We combine the six-dimensional helicity formalism of Cheung and O'Connell with D-dimensional generalized unitarity to obtain a new formalism for computing one-loop amplitudes in dimensionally regularized QCD. With this procedure, we simultaneously obtain the pieces that are constructible from four-dimensional unitarity cuts and the rational pieces that are missed by them, while retaining a helicity formalism. We illustrate the procedure using four- and five-point one-loop amplitudes in QCD, including examples with external fermions. We also demonstrate the technique's effectiveness in next-to-leading order QCD corrections to Higgs processes by computing the next-to-leading order correction to the Higgs plus three positive-helicity gluons amplitude in the large top-quark mass limit.