Order In QED Research Articles

Probing the polarized photon content of the proton in ep collisions at the EIC

We study the single-inclusive production of prompt photons in electron-proton collisions, ep→γX, for kinematics relevant at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). We perform a perturbative calculation of the differential cross section to next-to-leading order in QCD and to lowest order in QED. We consider unpolarized collisions as well as scattering of longitudinally polarized incident electrons and protons. We show that the cross sections are sensitive to the parton distribution functions of photons inside the proton, which we find to generate the dominant contributions in certain kinematical regions at the EIC. We also investigate the effects of photon isolation on the unpolarized and polarized cross sections. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Combining QED and QCD transverse-momentum resummation for W and Z boson production at hadron colliders

In this article, we consider the transverse momentum (qT) distribution of W and Z bosons produced in hadronic collisions. We combine the qT resummation for QED and QCD radiation including the QED soft emissions from the W boson in the final state. In particular, we perform the resummation of enhanced logarithmic contributions due to soft and collinear emissions at next-to-leading accuracy in QED, leading-order accuracy for mixed QED-QCD and next-to-next-to-leading accuracy in QCD. In the small-qT region we consistently include in our results the next-to-next-to-leading order (i.e. two loops) QCD corrections and the next-to-leading order (i.e. one loop) electroweak corrections. The matching with the fixed-order calculation at large qT has been performed at next-to-leading order in QCD (i.e. at mathcal{O}left({alpha}_S^2right) ) and at leading order in QED. We show numerical results for W and Z production at the Tevatron and the LHC. Finally, we consider the effect of combined QCD and QED resummation for the ratio of W and Z qT distributions, and we study the impact of the QED corrections providing an estimate of the corresponding perturbative uncertainties.

Soft theorems from boundary terms in the classical point particle currents

Soft factorization has been shown to hold to sub-leading order in QED and to sub-sub-leading order in perturbative quantum gravity, with various loop and non-universal corrections that can be found. Here we show that all terms factorizing at tree level can be uniquely identified as boundary terms that exist already in the classical expressions for the electric current and stress tensor of a point particle. Further, we show that one cannot uniquely identify such boundary terms beyond the sub-leading or sub-sub-leading orders respectively, providing evidence that the factorizability of the tree level soft factor only holds to these orders. Finally, we show that these boundary terms factor out of all tree level amplitudes as expected, in a theory where gravitons couple to a scalar field.

A revision of radiative corrections to double-Dalitz decays

The radiative corrections to double-Dalitz $({P\rightarrow\overline ll\overline l'l'})$ decays are revisited and completed up to next-to-leading order in QED, finding mild differences with respect to previous studies. These might be relevant for extracting information about the mesons transition form factors, which play an important role in determining the hadronic light-by-light contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon.

Master integrals for the NNLO virtual corrections to \u03bce scattering in QED: the non-planar graphs

We evaluate the master integrals for the two-loop non-planar box-diagrams contributing to the elastic scattering of muons and electrons at next-to-next-to-leading order in QED. We adopt the method of differential equations and the Magnus exponential to determine a canonical set of integrals, finally expressed as a Taylor series around four space-time dimensions, with coefficients written as combination of generalised polylogarithms. The electron is treated as massless, while we retain full dependence on the muon mass. The considered integrals are also relevant for crossing-related processes, such as di-muon production at e+e− colliders, as well as for the QCD corrections to top-pair production at hadron colliders. In particular our results, together with the planar master integrals recently computed, represent the complete set of functions needed for the evaluation of the photonic two-loop virtual next-to-next-to-leading order QED corrections to μe → μe and e+e− → μ+μ−.

Photon Propagation in Slowly Varying Electromagnetic Fields

We study the effective theory of soft photons in slowly varying electromagnetic background fields at one-loop order in QED. This is of relevance for the study of all-optical signatures of quantum vacuum nonlinearity in realistic electromagnetic background fields as provided by high-intensity lasers. The central result derived in this article is a new analytical expression for the photon polarization tensor in two linearly polarized counter-propagating pulsed Gaussian laser beams. As we treat the peak field strengths of both laser beams as free parameters this field configuration can be considered as interpolating between the limiting cases of a purely right- or left-moving laser beam (if one of the peak field strengths is set to zero) and the standing-wave type scenario with two counter-propagating beams of equal strength.

Radiativeτleptonic decays and the possibility to determine theτdipole moments

Precise data on radiative leptonic τ decays offer the opportunity to probe the electromagnetic properties of the τ and may allow to determine its anomalous magnetic moment which, in spite of its precise Standard Model prediction, has never been measured. Recently, the branching fractions of the radiative leptonic τ decays (τ → lν¯νγ, with l = e, μ) were measured by the Babar collaboration. These precise measurements, with a relative error of about 3%, must be compared with the branching ratios at the next-to-leading order in QED. Indeed the radiative corrections are expected to be of order 10%, for l = e, and 3%, for l = μ. Here, we present the prediction of the differential decay rates and branching ratios of the radiative leptonic τ decays in the Standard Model at the next-to-leading order and we compare them with the recent Babar measurements. Moreover, wereport on a dedicated feasibility study for the measurements of the τ anomalous magnetic moment at Belle and Belle II.

Leptonic contributions to the effective electromagnetic coupling at four-loop order in QED

The running of the effective electromagnetic coupling is for many electroweak observables the dominant correction. It plays an important role for deriving constraints on the Standard Model in the context of electroweak precision measurements. We compute the four-loop QED corrections to the running of the effective electromagnetic coupling and perform a numerical evaluation of the different gauge invariant subsets.

Electromagnetic Self-Energy Contribution toMp−Mnand the Isovector Nucleon Magnetic Polarizability

We update the determination of the isovector nucleon electromagnetic self-energy, valid to leading order in QED. A technical oversight in the literature concerning the elastic contribution to Cottingham's formula is corrected, and modern knowledge of the structure functions is used to precisely determine the inelastic contribution. We find δM(p-n)(γ) = 1.30(03)(47) MeV. The largest uncertainty arises from a subtraction term required in the dispersive analysis, which can be related to the isovector magnetic polarizability. With plausible model assumptions, we can combine our calculation with additional input from lattice QCD to constrain this polarizability as: β(p-n) = -0.87(85)×10(-4) fm3.

NNLO leptonic and hadronic corrections to Bhabha scattering and luminosity monitoring at meson factories

Virtual fermionic N_f = 1 and N_f = 2 contributions to Bhabha scattering are combined with realistic real corrections at next-to-next-to-leading order in QED. The virtual corrections are determined by the package bha_nnlo_hf, and real corrections with the Monte Carlo generators Bhagen-1Ph, Helac-Phegas and Ekhara. Numerical results are discussed at the energies of and with realistic cuts used at the Phi factory DAFNE, at the B factories PEP-II and KEK, and at the charm/tau factory BEPC II. We compare these complete calculations with the approximate ones realized in the generator BabaYaga@NLO used at meson factories to evaluate their luminosities. For realistic reference event selections we find agreement for the NNLO leptonic and hadronic corrections within 0.07% or better and conclude that they are well accounted for in the generator by comparison with the present experimental accuracy.

A Theoretical Study of Spin Filtering and its Application to Polarizing Antiprotons

THESIS 8639%%%%There has been much recent research into possible methods of polarizing an antiproton beam, the most promising being spin filtering, the theoretical understanding of which is currently incomplete. The method of polarization buildup by spin filtering requires many of the beam particles to remain within the beam after repeated interaction with an internal target in a storage ring. Hence small scattering angles, where we show that electromagnetic effects dominate hadronic effects, are important. All spin-averaged and spin-dependent electromagnetic cross-sections and spin observables for elastic spin 1/2 - spin 1/2 scattering, for both point-like particles and non-point-like particles with internal structure defined by electromagnetic form factors, are derived to first order in QED. Particular attention is paid to spin transfer and depolarization cross-sections in antiproton-proton, antiproton-electron and positron-electron scattering, in the low |t| region of momentum transfer. A thorough mathematical treatment of spin filtering is then presented, identifying the key physical processes involved and highlighting the dynamical properties of the physical system. We present and solve sets of differential equations which describe the buildup of polarization by spin filtering in many different scenarios of interest. The advantages of using a lepton target are outlined, and finally a proposal to polarize antiprotons by spin filtering off an opposing polarized electron beam is investigated.

New uncertainties in QCD—QED rescaling factors using quadrature method

In this paper we briefly outline the quadrature method for estimating uncertainties in a function which depends on several variables, and apply it to estimate the numerical uncertainties in QCD-QED rescaling factors. We employ here the one-loop order in QED and three-loop order in QCD evolution equations of the fermion mass renormalisation. Our present calculation is found to be new and also reliable when compared to the earlier values employed by various authors

QCD box graphs and the quark-antiquark potential

The\(t\bar t\) system allows a truly perturbative treatment of the potential. Completing previous computations, we calculate the contributions of QCD box graph corrections, which make the “relativistic”O(α 4) corrections in the non-Abelian case differ from the well known corrections of the same order in QED.

QCD box graphs and the quark-antiquark potential

The $t\bar{t}$ system allows a truly perturbative treatment of the potential. Completing previous computations, we calculate the contributions of QCD box graph corrections, which make the ``relativistic'' $O(\a^4)$ corrections in the non-Abelian case differ from the well known corrections of the same order in QED.