On-shell Limit Research Articles

On the electron self-energy to three loops in QED

We compute the electron self-energy in Quantum Electrodynamics to three loops in terms of iterated integrals over kernels of elliptic type. We make use of the differential equations method, augmented by an ϵ-factorized basis, which allows us to gain full control over the differential forms appearing in the iterated integrals to all orders in the dimensional regulator. We obtain compact analytic expressions, for which we provide generalized series expansion representations that allow us to evaluate the result numerically for all values of the electron momentum squared. As a by-product, we also obtain ϵ-resummed results for the self-energy in the on-shell limit p2 = m2, which we use to recompute the known three-loop renormalization constants in the on-shell scheme.

Helicity amplitudes without gauge cancellation for electroweak processes

In the 5-component representation of weak bosons, the first four components make a Lorentz four vector, representing the transverse and longitudinal polarizations excluding the scalar component of the weak bosons, whereas its fifth component corresponds to the Goldstone boson. We obtain the 5×5\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$5\ imes 5$$\\end{document} component propagators of off-shell weak bosons, proposed previously and named after the Goldstone boson equivalence theorem, by starting from the unitary-gauge representation of the tree-level scattering amplitudes, and by applying the BRST (Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin) identities to the two sub-amplitudes connected by each off-shell weak-boson line. By replacing all weak boson vertices with those among the off-shell 5-component wavefunctions, we arrive at the expression of the electroweak scattering amplitudes, where the magnitude of each Feynman amplitude has the correct on-shell limits for all internal propagators, and hence with no artificial gauge cancellation among diagrams. Although our derivation is limited to the tree-level only, it allows us to study the properties of each Feynman amplitude separately, and then learn how they interfere in the full amplitudes. We implement the 5-component weak boson propagators and their vertices in the numerical helicity amplitude calculation code HELAS (Helicity Amplitude Subroutines), so that an automatic amplitude generation program such as MadGraph can generate the scattering amplitudes without gauge cancellation. We present results for several high-energy scattering processes where subtle gauge-theory cancellation among diagrams takes place in all the other known approaches.

Note on graph-based BCJ relation for Berends-Giele currents

Graph-based Bern-Carasso-Johansson (BCJ) relation for Berends-Giele currents in bi-adjoint scalar (BS) theory, which is characterized by connected tree graphs, was proposed in an earlier work. In this note, we provide a systematic study of this relation. We first prove the relations based on two special types of graphs: simple chains and star graphs. The general graph-based BCJ relation established by an arbitrary tree graph is further proved, through Berends-Giele recursion. When combined with proper off-shell extended numerators, this relation induces the graph-based BCJ relation for Berends-Giele currents in Yang-Mills theory. The corresponding relations for amplitudes are obtained via on-shell limits.

Massive quarks in NLO dipole factorization for DIS: Transverse photon

We calculate the light cone wave functions for the QCD Fock components in a transverse virtual photon necessary for applications at next-to-leading order in the QCD coupling, including quark masses. We present a detailed calculation of both the one loop wave function for the quark-antiquark Fock component and the tree level wave function for the quark-antiquark-gluon Fock component. The quark masses are renormalized in the pole mass scheme, satisfying constraints from the requirement of Lorentz invariance. In particular the quark Pauli form factor at NLO is recovered from the on-shell limit of the quark-antiquark Fock component. We use our result to calculate the next-to-leading order correction to the high energy deep inelastic scattering (DIS) transverse structure function on a dense target in the dipole factorization framework. Together with our earlier result for longitudinal photons, this completes the calculation of the total deep inelastic scattering cross section in the dipole picture with massive quarks at next-to-leading order, enabling a comparison with experimental data.

Off-shell extended graphic rule and the expansion of Berends-Giele currents in Yang-Mills theory

Tree-level color-ordered Yang-Mills (YM) amplitudes can be decomposed in terms of (n − 2)! bi-scalar (BS) amplitudes, whose expansion coefficients form a basis of Bern-Carrasco-Johansson (BCJ) numerators. By the help of the recursive expansion of Einstein-Yang-Mills (EYM) amplitudes, the BCJ numerators are given by polynomial functions of Lorentz contractions which are conveniently described by graphic rule. In this work, we extend the expansion of YM amplitudes to off-shell level. We define different types of off-shell extended numerators that can be generated by graphs. By the use of these extended numerators, we propose a general decomposition formula of off-shell Berends-Giele currents in YM. This formula consists of three terms: (i). an effective current which is expanded as a combination of the Berends-Giele currents in BS theory (The expansion coefficients are one type of off-shell extended numerators) (ii). a term proportional to the total momentum of on-shell lines and (iii). a term expressed by the sum of lower point Berends-Giele currents in which some polarizations and momenta are replaced by vectors proportional to off-shell momenta appropriately. In the on-shell limit, the last two terms vanish while the decomposition of effective current precisely reproduces the decomposition of on-shell YM amplitudes with the expected coefficients (BCJ numerators in DDM basis). We further symmetrize these coefficients such that the Lie symmetries are satisfied. These symmetric BCJ numerators simultaneously satisfy the relabeling property of external lines and the algebraic properties (antisymmetry and Jacobi identity).

A new Wilson line-based action for gluodynamics

We perform a canonical transformation of fields that brings the Yang-Mills action in the light-cone gauge to a new classical action, which does not involve any triple-gluon vertices. The lowest order vertex is the four-point MHV vertex. Higher point vertices include the MHV and overline{mathrm{MHV}} vertices, that reduce to the corresponding amplitudes in the on-shell limit. In general, any n-leg vertex has 2 ≤ m ≤ n − 2 negative helicity legs. The canonical transformation of fields can be compactly expressed in terms of path-ordered exponentials of fields and their functional derivative. We apply the new action to compute several tree-level amplitudes, up to 8-point NNMHV amplitude, and find agreement with the standard methods. The absence of triple-gluon vertices results in fewer diagrams required to compute amplitudes, when compared to the CSW method and, obviously, considerably fewer than in the standard Yang-Mills action.

All-plus helicity off-shell gauge invariant multigluon amplitudes at one loop

We calculate one loop scattering amplitudes for arbitrary number of positive helicity on-shell gluons and one off-shell gluon treated within the quasi-multi Regge kinematics. The result is fully gauge invariant and possesses the correct on-shell limit. Our method is based on embedding the off-shell process, together with contributions needed to retain gauge invariance, in a bigger fully on-shell process with auxiliary quark or gluon line.

Conformal Bjorken flow in the general frame and its attractor: Similarities and discrepancies with the Müller-Israel-Stewart formalism

We investigate the implications of the general frame approach for conformal Bjorken flow beyond the earlier studies. We show that the power series solution at late times is not unique and is accompanied by an exact solution of the form $1/\tau$, which becomes unphysical if taken on shell. In contrast to the M\"uller-Israel-Stewart formalism, a matching between $\NFSYM$ results and the hydro expansion is only possible up to the first order, which gives rise to $\eta/s=1/4\pi$. Matching the results to the next order gives rise to causality/stability-violating values. Furthermore, we show that the pressure anisotropy in the general frame cannot capture the hydrodynamization, and we introduce an alternative measure to find the attractor. Using slow-roll expansion, we find an analytical approximation form for the attractor. We also show that the early-time behavior of attractors is related to stability and causality conditions. The attractor solutions outside the stable and causal regime give rise to reheating and negative longitudinal pressures in early times, in contrast to the stable and causal ones. We also comment on the violation of the second law of thermodynamics by the off-shell parameters. We show that for the stable and causal choice of parameters, the off-shell canonical entropy of the attractors, which is not a physical quantity, has a negative divergence in early times before tending to its on-shell limit. On the other hand, the unstable and acausal attractors have non-negative entropy divergence. We speculate that the violation of the second law by stable and causal off-shell parameters is required for stability of the first-order hydrodynamics. We investigate the analytical structure of the Borel-transformed series and find the proper relation between the poles and nonhydro modes.

Scattering amplitudes in mathcal{N} = 3 supersymmetric SU(N) Chern-Simons-matter theory at large N

We study mathcal{N} = 3 supersymmetric Chern-Simons-matter theory coupled to matter in the fundamental representation of SU(N). In the ’t Hooft large N limit, we compute the exact 2 → 2 scattering amplitudes of the fundamental scalar superfields to all orders in the ’t Hooft coupling λ. Our computations are presented in mathcal{N} = 1 superspace and make significant use of the residual SO(2)R symmetry in order to solve for the exact four-point correlator of the scalar superfields. By taking the on-shell limit, we are able to extract the exact 2 → 2 scattering amplitudes of bosons/fermions in the symmetric, anti-symmetric and adjoint channels of scattering. We find that the scattering amplitude of the mathcal{N} = 3 theory in the planar limit is tree-level exact to all orders in the ’t Hooft coupling λ. The result is consistent with the conjectured bosonization duality and is expected to have enhanced symmetry structures such as dual superconformal symmetry and Yangian symmetry.

Pion off-shell electromagnetic form factors: Data extraction and model analysis

We investigate the pion electromagnetic half off-shell form factors, which parametrize the matrix element of the charged pion electromagnetic current with one leg off-mass-shell and the other leg on-mass-shell, using an exactly solvable manifestly covariant model of a $(3+1)$ dimensional fermion field theory. The model provides a 3D imaging of the two off-shell pion form factors $F_1$ and $F_2$ as a function of $(Q^2,t)$, which are related to each other satisfying the Ward-Takahashi identity. The normalization of the renormalized charge form factor $F_1$ is fixed by $F_1(Q^2=0, t=m^2_\pi)=1$ while the other form factor $F_2$ vanishes, i.e. $F_2(Q^2, t=m^2_\pi)=0$ for any value of $Q^2$ due to the time-reversal invariance of the strong interaction. We define the new form factor $g(Q^2,t)=F_2(Q^2,t)/(t-m^2_\pi)$ and find that $g(Q^2,t)$ can be measurable in the on-mass-shell limit. In particular, $g(Q^2=0, t=m^2_\pi)$ is related with the pion charge radius. We also compare our form factors with the data extracted from the pion electroproduction reaction for both the off-shell region ($t<0$) and the on-shell limit ($t \rightarrow m_\pi^2$).

High energy resummation of jet observables

In this paper we investigate the extension of high energy resummation at LLx accuracy to jet observables. In particular, we present the high energy resummed expression of the transverse momentum distribution of the outgoing parton in the general partonic process g(q) + g(q) → g(q) + X. In order to reach this result, several new ideas are introduced and exploited. First we prove that LLx resummation is achieved by dressing with hard radiation an off-shell gluon initiated LO process even if its on-shell limit is vanishing or trivial. Then we present a gauge-invariant framework where these calculations can be performed by using the modern helicity techniques. Finally, we show a possible way to restore gluon indistinguishability in the final state, which is otherwise lost in the resummation procedure, at all orders in αs at LLx. All partonic channels are then resummed and cross-checked against fixed-order calculations up to mathcal{O}left({alpha}_s^3right) .

Nuclear final-state interactions in deep inelastic scattering off the lightest nuclei

We review recent progress in studies of nuclear final-state interactions in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) off the lightest nuclei tagged by a recoil nucleon. These processes hold a lot of potential for resolving the outstanding issues related to the dynamics of hadronization in QCD. Within the minimal Fock component framework, valid at large Bjorken [Formula: see text], the main features of the theoretical approach based on the virtual nucleon approximation are elaborated. In this approach, the strong final-state interaction of the DIS products with the nuclear fragments is described by an effective eikonal amplitude, whose parameters can be extracted from the analysis of semi-inclusive DIS off the deuteron target. The extraction of the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] mass dependences of these parameters gives a new observable in studying the QCD structure of DIS final states. Another important feature of tagged DIS off the lightest nuclei is the possibility of performing pole extrapolation with a high degree of accuracy. Such extrapolation allows an extraction of the neutron structure function in a model independent way due to suppression of the final-state interaction in the on-shell limit of the struck nucleon propagator. We review the first application of the pole extrapolation to recent experimental data. Finally, we outline the extension of the framework to inclusive DIS, including a polarized deuteron target as well as its application to the tagged DIS reactions for future experiments at fixed target and collider energies.

Wilson lines, Grassmannians and gauge invariant off-shell amplitudes in mathcal{N}=4 SYM

In this paper we consider tree-level gauge invariant off-shell amplitudes (Wilson line form factors) in mathcal{N}=4 SYM. For the off-shell amplitudes with one leg off-shell we present a conjecture for their Grassmannian integral representation in spinor helicity, twistor and momentum twistor parameterizations. The presented conjecture is successfully checked against BCFW results for MHVn, NMHV4 and NMHV5 off-shell amplitudes. We have also verified that our Grassmannian integral representation correctly reproduces soft (on-shell) limit for the off-shell gluon momentum. It is shown that the (deformed) off-shell amplitude expressions could be also obtained using quantum inverse scattering method for auxiliary mathfrak{g}mathfrak{l}left(4Big|4right) super spin chain.

Quark-gluon vertex: A perturbation theory primer and beyond

There has been growing evidence that the infrared enhancement of the form factors defining the full quark-gluon vertex plays an important role in realizing a dynamical breakdown of chiral symmetry in quantum chromodynamics, leading to the observed spectrum and properties of hadrons. Both the lattice and the Schwinger-Dyson communities have begun to calculate these form factors in various kinematical regimes of momenta involved. A natural consistency check for these studies is that they should match onto the perturbative predictions in the ultraviolet, where non-perturbative effects mellow down. In this article, we carry out a numerical analysis of the one-loop result for all the form factors of the quark-gluon vertex. Interestingly, even the one-loop results qualitatively encode most of the infrared enhancement features expected of their non-perturbative counter parts. We analyze various kinematical configurations of momenta: symmetric, on-shell and asymptotic. The on-shell limit enables us to compute anomalous chromomagnetic moment of quarks. The asymptotic results have implications for the multiplicative renormalizability of the quark propagator and its connection with the Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin transformations, allowing us to analyze and compare various Ans$\ddot{a}$tze proposed so far.

Off-shell distortions of multichannel atomic processes

Any multichannel problem can be reduced to a succession of two-body events. However, these basic building blocks of many-body theories do not correspond to elastic processes but are off-the-energy-shell. In view of this difficulty, the great majority of the Distorted-Wave models includes a subsidiary approximation where these off-shell terms are arbitrarily forced to lie on the energy shell. At a first glance, since the energy deficiency is negligible for high enough velocities, the on-shell assumption seems to be completely justified. However, for the case of Coulomb interactions, the two-body off-shell distortions have branch-point singularities on the on-shell limit. In this article we demonstrate that these singularities might produce sizeable distortions of multiple scattering amplitudes, mainly when dealing with ion-ion collisions. Finally, we propose a method of including these distortions that might lead to better results that removing them completely.

Higher spin modes as rolling tachyons in open string field theory

We find a simple analytic solution in open string field theory which, in the on-shell limit, generates a tower of higher spin vertex operators in bosonic string theory. The solution is related to irregular off-shell vertex operators for Gaiotto states. The wavefunctions for the irregular vertex operators are described by equations following from the cubic effective action for generalized rolling tachyons, indicating that the evolution from flat to collective higher-spin background in string field theory occurs according to cosmological pattern. We discuss the relation between nonlocalities of the rolling tachyon action and those of higher spin interactions.

Fixed points of the SRG evolution and the on-shell limit of the nuclear force

We study the infrared limit of the similarity renormalization group (SRG) using a simple toy model for the nuclear force aiming to investigate the fixed points of the SRG evolution with both the Wilson and the Wegner generators. We show how a fully diagonal interaction at the similarity cutoff λ→0 may be obtained from the eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian and quantify the diagonalness by means of operator norms. While the fixed points for both generators are equivalent when no bound-states are allowed by the interaction, the differences arising from the presence of the Deuteron bound-state can be disentangled very clearly by analyzing the evolved interactions in the infrared limit λ→0 on a finite momentum grid. Another issue we investigate is the location on the diagonal of the Hamiltonian in momentum-space where the SRG evolution places the Deuteron bound-state eigenvalue once it reaches the fixed point. This finite momentum grid setup provides an alternative derivation of the celebrated trace identities, as a by product. The different effects due to either the Wilson or the Wegner generators on the binding energies of A=2,3,4 systems are investigated and related to the occurrence of a Tjon-line which emerges as the minimum of an avoided crossing between Eα=4Et−3Ed and Eα=2Et. All infrared features of the flow equations are illustrated using the toy model for the two-nucleon S-waves.

On single and double soft behaviors in NLSM

In this paper, we study the single and double soft behaviors of tree level off-shell currents and on-shell amplitudes in nonlinear sigma model(NLSM). We first propose and prove the leading soft behavior of the tree level currents with a single soft particle. In the on-shell limit, this single soft emission becomes the Adler's zero. Then we establish the leading and sub-leading soft behaviors of tree level currents with two adjacent soft particles. With a careful analysis of the on-shell limit, we obtain the double soft behaviors of on-shell amplitudes where the two soft particles are adjacent to each other. By applying Kleiss-Kuijf (KK) relation, we further obtain the leading and sub-leading behaviors of amplitudes with two nonadjacent soft particles.

Unitary neutron matter in the on-shell limit

We compute the Bertsch parameter for neutron matter by using nucleon-nucleon interactions that are fully diagonal in momentum space. We analyze the on-shell limit with the similarity renormalization group and compare the results for a simple separable toy model to realistic calculations with high precision NN potentials.

Note on off-shell relations in nonlinear sigma model

In this note, we investigate relations between tree-level off-shell currents in nonlinear sigma model. Under Cayley parametrization, all odd-point currents vanish. We propose and prove a generalized U(1) identity for even-point currents. The off-shell U(1) identity given in [1] is a special case of the generalized identity studied in this note. The on-shell limit of this identity is equivalent with the on-shell KK relation. Thus this relation provides the full off-shell correspondence of tree-level KK relation in nonlinear sigma model.