The zero-bin and mode factorization in quantum field theory

Abstract

We study a Lagrangian formalism that avoids double counting in effective field theories where distinct fields are used to describe different infrared momentum regions for the same particle. The formalism leads to extra subtractions in certain diagrams and to a new way of thinking about factorization of modes in quantum field theory. In nonrelativistic field theories, the subtractions remove unphysical pinch singularities in box-type diagrams, and give a derivation of the known pullup mechanism between soft and ultrasoft fields which is required by the renormalization group evolution. In a field theory for energetic particles, the soft-collinear effective theory (SCET), the subtractions allow the theory to be defined with different infrared and ultraviolet regulators, remove double counting between soft, ultrasoft, and collinear modes, and give results which reproduce the infrared divergences of the full theory. Our analysis shows that convolution divergences in factorization formulas occur due to an overlap of momentum regions. We propose a method that avoids this double counting, which helps to resolve a long-standing puzzle with singularities in collinear factorization in QCD. The analysis gives evidence for a factorization in rapidity space in exclusive decays.