Loops In QCD Research Articles

Constraints for twist-two alien operators in QCD

Parton evolution equations in QCD are controlled by the anomalous dimensions of gauge-invariant twist-two spin-N quark and gluon operators. Under renormalization, these mix with gauge-variant operators of the same quantum numbers, referred to as alien operators. Our work addresses the systematic study of these alien operators at arbitrary spin N, using generalized BRST symmetry relations to derive their couplings and Feynman rules at all values of N. We observe how the all-N structure of the generalized (anti-)BRST constraints relates the couplings of alien operators with n + 1 gluons to those with n gluons. Realizing a bootstrap, we present all one-loop results necessary for performing the operator renormalization up to four loops in QCD.

Three loop QCD corrections to the heavy-light form factors: fermionic contributions

We present analytic results for three-loop fermionic corrections to the heavy-light form factors in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. Specifically, we present all light quark contributions and contributions from two heavy quark loops. We use the method of differential equations to compute all relevant three-loop master integrals. The results for all these contributions are expressed in terms of harmonic polylogarithms and generalized harmonic polylogarithms.

On Thermal Transition in QCD

Abstract We describe how the general mechanism of partial deconfinement applies to large-N QCD and a partially deconfined phase inevitably appears between completely confined and completely deconfined phases. Furthermore, we propose how partial deconfinement can be observed in real-world QCD with the SU(3) gauge group. For this purpose, we employ lattice configurations obtained by the WHOT-QCD Collaboration and examine our proposal numerically. In the discussion, the Polyakov loop plays a crucial role in characterizing the phases, without relying on center symmetry, and hence we clarify the meaning of the Polyakov loop in QCD at large N and finite N. At both large N and finite N, the complete confinement is characterized by the Haar-random distribution of the Polyakov line phases. Haar-randomness, which is stronger than unbroken center symmetry, indicates that Polyakov loops in any nontrivial representations have vanishing expectation values, and deviation from the Haar-random distribution at higher temperatures is quantified with the loops. We discuss that the transitions separating the partially deconfined phase are characterized by the behaviors of Polyakov loops in various representations. The lattice QCD data provide us with the signals exhibiting two different characteristic temperatures: deconfinement of the fundamental representation and deconfinement of higher representations. As a nontrivial test for our proposal, we also investigate the relation between partial deconfinement and instanton condensation and confirm the consistency with the lattice data. To make the presentation more easily accessible, we provide a detailed review of the previously known aspects of partial deconfinement.

The Higgs-gluon form factor at three loops in QCD with three mass scales

We report on the complete three-loop corrections to the Higgs-gluon form factor in QCD. While previous calculations are based on QCD with a single heavy quark of arbitrary mass, we extend the study to QCD involving two different massive quark flavors. Thereby, the full set of possible Feynman diagrams at three-loop order is taken into account. Employing differential equations for the relevant master integrals, we determine the form factor in terms of analytic expansions. Outside the radii of convergence, we compute high-precision numerical samples over the two-dimensional physical parameter space. Our new findings will enter as virtual corrections the computation of the top-bottom interference in hadronic Higgs-boson production at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD.

Three loop QCD corrections to the heavy-light form factors in the color-planar limit

We present the analytic expressions for the color-planar contributions to the heavy-light form factors at three loops in perturbative QCD. These form factors play an important role in the precision predictions of various observables in top quark and flavour physics. We compute the master integrals using the method of differential equations. We perform the ultraviolet renormalization for all the appearing fields and parameters. The analytic results for the renormalized form factors are expressed in terms of generalized harmonic polylogarithms. We also study the Sudakov behaviour of these form factors in the asymptotic limit, which enables us to obtain the complete logarithmic three-loop and partial four-loop contributions.

Renormalization of twist-two operators in covariant gauge to three loops in QCD

The leading short-distance contributions to hadronic hard-scattering cross sections in the operator product expansion are described by twist-two quark and gluon operators. The anomalous dimensions of these operators determine the splitting functions that govern the scale evolution of parton distribution functions. In massless QCD, these anomalous dimensions can be determined through the calculation of off-shell operator matrix elements, typically performed in a covariant gauge, where the physical operators mix with gauge-variant operators of the same quantum numbers. We derive a new method to systematically extract the counterterm Feynman rules resulting from these gauge-variant operators. As a first application of the new method, we rederive the unpolarized three-loop singlet anomalous dimensions, independently confirming previous results obtained with other methods. Employing a general covariant gauge, we observe the explicit cancellation of the gauge parameter dependence in these results.

Two-loop QCD corrections to the V → qoverline{q}g helicity amplitudes with axial-vector couplings

We compute the two-loop corrections to the helicity amplitudes for the coupling of a massive vector boson to a massless quark-antiquark pair and a gluon, accounting for vector and axial-vector couplings of the vector boson and distinguishing isospin non-singlet and singlet contributions. A new four-dimensional basis for the decomposition of the amplitudes into 12 invariant tensor structures is introduced. The associated form factors are then computed up to two loops in QCD using dimensional regularization. After performing renormalization and infrared subtraction, the finite parts of the renormalized non-singlet vector and axial-vector form factors are shown agree with each other, and to reproduce the previously known two-loop amplitudes. The singlet axial-vector amplitude receives a contribution from the axial anomaly from two loops onwards. This amplitude is computed for massless and massive internal quarks. Our results provide the last missing two-loop amplitudes entering the NNLO QCD corrections of vector-boson-plus-jet production at hadron colliders.

The pion-photon transition form factor at two loops in QCD

We report on the fully analytic calculation of the leading-power contribution to the photon-pion transition form factor \gamma \, \gamma^{\ast} \to \pi^0γγ*→π0 at two loops in QCD. The applied techniques are based on hard-collinear factorization, together with modern multi-loop methods. We focus both, on the technical details such as the treatment of evanescent operators, and the phenomenological implications. Our results indicate that the two-loop correction is numerically comparable to the one-loop effect in the same kinematic domain. We also demonstrate that our results will play a key role in disentangling various models for the twist-two pion distribution amplitude thanks to the envisaged precision at Belle II.

Master integrals contributing to two-loop leading colour QCD helicity amplitudes for top-quark pair production in the gluon fusion channel

We discuss the analytic structure of the master integrals relevant for computing the complete set of leading-colour analytic helicity amplitudes for top-quark pair production via gluon fusion at two loops in QCD. This includes corrections due to massive fermion loops which give rise to integrals involving elliptic curves. We also elaborate on the structure of singularities that play an important role in the numerical evaluation of the iterated integrals and their analytic continuation.

Gravitational form factors and mechanical properties of a quark at one loop in light-front Hamiltonian QCD

We calculate the gravitational form factors (GFFs) and pressure, shear, and energy distributions for a quark state dressed with a gluon at one loop in QCD. We use the light-front Hamiltonian approach. In the light-front gauge, we use a two-component formalism to eliminate the constrained fields. The state may be thought of as a perturbative model for a relativistic spin-$1/2$ composite system having a gluonic degree of freedom. We compare the results with model calculations for a nucleon.

The complete singlet contribution to the massless quark form factor at three loops in QCD

It is well known that the effect of top quark loop corrections in the axial part of quark form factors (FF) does not decouple in the large top mass or low energy limit due to the presence of the axial-anomaly type diagrams. The top-loop induced singlet-type contribution should be included in addition to the purely massless result for quark FFs when applied to physics in the low energy region, both for the non-decoupling mass logarithms and for an appropriate renormalization scale dependence. In this work, we have numerically computed the so-called singlet contribution to quark FFs with the exact top quark mass dependence over the full kinematic range. We discuss in detail the renormalization formulae of the individual subsets of the singlet contribution to an axial quark FF with a particular flavor, as well as the renormalization group equations that govern their individual scale dependence. Finally we have extracted the 3-loop Wilson coefficient in the low energy effective Lagrangian, renormalized in a mathrm{non}hbox{-} overline{mathrm{MS}} scheme and constructed to encode the leading large mass approximation of our exact results for singlet quark FFs. We have also examined the accuracy of the approximation in the low energy region.

Virtual QCD corrections to gluon-initiated diphoton plus jet production at hadron colliders

We present an analytic computation of the gluon-initiated contribution to diphoton plus jet production at hadron colliders up to two loops in QCD. We reconstruct the analytic form of the finite remainders from numerical evaluations over finite fields including all colour contributions. Compact expressions are found using the pentagon function basis. We provide a fast and stable implementation for the colour- and helicity-summed interference between the one-loop and two-loop finite remainders in C++ as part of the NJet library.

QCD pressure: Renormalization group optimized perturbation theory confronts lattice

The quark contribution to the QCD pressure, ${P}_{q}$, is evaluated up to next-to-leading order (NLO) within the renormalization group optimized perturbation theory (RGOPT) resummation approach. To evaluate the complete QCD pressure we simply add the perturbative NLO contribution from massless gluons to the resummed ${P}_{q}$. Despite this unsophisticated approximation our results for $P={P}_{q}+{P}_{g}$ at the central scale $M\ensuremath{\sim}2\ensuremath{\pi}T$ show a remarkable agreement with lattice predictions for $0.25\ensuremath{\lesssim}T\ensuremath{\lesssim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$. We also show that by being imbued with RG properties, the RGOPT produces a drastic reduction of the embarrassing remnant scale dependence that plagues both standard thermal perturbative QCD and hard thermal loop perturbation theory applications.

Renormalization group improved pressure for hot and dense quark matter

We apply the renormalization group optimized perturbation theory (RGOPT) to evaluate the quark contribution to the QCD pressure at finite temperatures and baryonic densities, at next-to-leading order (NLO). Our results are compared to NLO and state-of-the-art higher orders of standard perturbative QCD (pQCD) and hard thermal loop perturbation theory (HTLpt). The RGOPT resummation provides a nonperturbative approximation, exhibiting a drastically better remnant renormalization scale dependence than pQCD, thanks to built-in renormalization group invariance consistency. At NLO, upon simply adding to the RGOPT-resummed quark contributions the purely perturbative NLO glue contribution, our results show a remarkable agreement with ab initio lattice simulation data for temperatures $0.25 \lesssim T \lesssim 1 \, {\rm GeV}$, with a remnant scale dependence drastically reduced as compared to HTLpt.

Associated Charmonium-Bottomonium Production in a Single Boson e+e− Annihilation

The production cross sections of J/ψηb, Yηc pairs in a single boson e+e− annihilation have been studied in a wide range of energies, which will be achieved at future e+e− colliders. The main color singlet contributions to the production processes are taken into account, including the one loop QCD contribution.

Factorization and transverse phase-space parton distributions

We first revisit impact-parameter dependent collisions of ultra-relativistic particles in quantum field theory. Two conditions sufficient for defining an impact-parameter dependent cross section are given, which could be violated in proton-proton collisions. By imposing these conditions, a general formula for the impact-parameter dependent cross section is derived. Then, using soft-collinear effective theory, we derive a factorization formula for the impact-parameter dependent cross section for inclusive hard processes with only colorless final-state products in hadron and nuclear collisions. It entails defining thickness beam functions, which are Fourier transforms of transverse phase-space parton distribution functions. By modelling non-perturbative modes in thickness beam functions of large nuclei in heavy-ion collisions, the factorization formula confirms the cross section in the Glauber model for hard processes. Besides, the factorization formula is verified up to one loop in perturbative QCD for the inclusive Drell-Yan process in quark-antiquark collisions at a finite impact parameter.

Exact quark-mass dependence of the Higgs-photon form factor at three loops in QCD

We follow up on our discussion of the exact quark-mass dependence of the Higgs-gluon form factor at three loops in QCD [1] and turn our attention to the closely related Higgs-photon form factor. Similarly to our previous work, we intend to examine the form factor for the decay of a Higgs-boson with variable mass into two photons at the three-loop level in QCD. The set of master integrals is known numerically due to prior work on the Higgs-gluon form factor and is exploited to obtain expansions around the threshold as well as in the high-energy limit. Our results may be utilised to derive the photonic decay rate of the Higgs-boson through next-to-next-to-leading order.

DsixTools 2.0: the effective field theory toolkit

DsixTools is a Mathematica package for the handling of the standard model effective field theory (SMEFT) and the low-energy effective field theory (LEFT) with operators up to dimension six, both at the algebraic and numerical level. DsixTools contains a visually accessible and operationally convenient repository of all operators and parameters of the SMEFT and the LEFT. This repository also provides information concerning symmetry categories and number of degrees of freedom, and routines that allow to implement this information on global expressions (such as decay amplitudes and cross-sections). DsixTools also performs weak basis transformations, and implements the full one-loop Renormalization Group Evolution in both EFTs (with SM beta functions up to five loops in QCD), and the full one-loop SMEFT-LEFT matching at the electroweak scale.

Charm fragmentation functions in the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model

We derive the fragmentation function (FF), which describes the probability for a charm quark to emit a $D$ meson with a certain momentum fraction, in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model. The corresponding elementary FF is calculated with the quark-meson coupling determined in the NJL model involving charm quarks. The FF in the infinite momentum frame is constructed through the jet process governed by the elementary FF, and then evolved to the charm scale, at which it is defined. To prepare the FF suitable for an analysis of $D$ meson production at CLEO, we further match the above FF to that in the finite momentum frame at one loop in QCD. It is shown that the charm quark FF including the finite momentum effects leads to theoretical results in agreement with the CLEO data.

Polarized mathrm{q}overline{mathrm{q}} \u2192 Z+Higgs amplitudes at two loops in QCD: the interplay between vector and axial vector form factors and a pitfall in applying a non-anticommuting \u03b35

We consider QCD corrections to two loops for the polarized amplitudes of qoverline{q} → Z + Higgs boson. First we show how the polarized amplitudes of boverline{b} → Zh associated with a non-vanishing b-quark Yukawa coupling and a scalar or pseudoscalar Higgs boson h can be built up solely from vector form factors (FF) of properly grouped classes of diagrams, bypassing completely the need of explicitly manipulating γ5 in dimensional regularization (up to a few “anomalous”, i.e., triangle diagrams). We determine the contributions of the triangle diagrams in the heavy top limit. We present the analytic results of the vector FF and the triangle-diagram contributions to the axial vector FF, which are sufficient for deriving the two-loop QCD amplitudes for boverline{b} → Zh with a CP-even and CP-odd Higgs boson h. We derive the respective Ward identity for these amplitudes, which are subsequently verified to two-loop order in QCD using these FF. In addition, the FF of a class of corrections to qoverline{q} → ZH proportional to the top-Yukawa coupling are obtained analytically to two-loop order in QCD in the heavy-top limit using the Higgs-gluon effective Lagrangian where the top quark is integrated out. We address a pitfall that occurs when applying the non-anticommutating γ5 prescription to this class of contributions that has been overlooked so far in the literature. We attribute this issue to the fact that the absence of certain heavy-mass expanded diagrams in the infinite-mass limit of a scattering amplitude with an axial vector current depends on the particular γ5 prescription in use.