35 pages, 6 figures. Major revisions: new analytic results for gluon amplitudes and new section on treatment of massless fermions. References added and typos corrected. Accepted for publication in JHEP
We present a method for the direct extraction of rational contributions to one-loop scattering amplitudes, missed by standard four-dimensional unitarity techniques. We use generalised unitarity in $D=4-2\e$ dimensions to write the loop amplitudes in terms of products of massive tree amplitudes. We find that the rational terms in $4-2\e$ dimensions can be determined from quadruple, triple and double cuts without the need for independent pentagon contributions using a massive integral basis. The additional mass-dependent integral coefficients may then be extracted from the large mass limit which can be performed analytically or numerically. We check the method by computing the rational parts of all gluon helicity amplitudes with up to six external legs. We also present a simple application to amplitudes with external massless fermions.
We present an extension of the renormalisation procedure based on the R-operation in $D$ dimensions at two-loop level, in which the numerators of all Feynman diagrams can be constructed in four dimensions, and the rational terms stemming from the interplay of $(D-4)$-dimensional numerator parts and UV poles are fully reconstructed from a finite set of universal local counterterms. This represents an extension of the concept of rational terms of type $R_2$ to two loops. We provide a general method to compute one and two-loop rational counterterms from massive one-scale tadpole integrals. Finall…
One-loop amplitudes are to a large extent determined by their unitarity cuts in four dimensions. We show that the remaining rational terms can be obtained from the ultraviolet behaviour of the amplitude, and determine universal form factors for these rational parts by applying reduction techniques to the Feynman diagrammatic representation of the amplitude. The method is valid for massless and massive internal particles. We illustrate this method by evaluating the rational terms of the one-loop amplitudes for gg --> H, the 4-photon and 4-gluon amplitude, the amplitude for 2 photons plus 3 gluo…
The various sources of Rational Terms contributing to the one-loop amplitudes are critically discussed. We show that the terms originating from the generic (n-4)-dimensional structure of the numerator of the one-loop amplitude can be derived by using appropriate Feynman rules within a tree-like computation. For the terms that originate from the reduction of the 4-dimensional part of the numerator, we present two different strategies and explicit algorithms to compute them.
The complete set of Feynman rules for the rational part R of QCD corrections in the MSSM are calculated at the one-loop level, which can be very useful in the next-to-leading order calculations in supersymmetric models. Our results are expressed in the 't Hooft-Veltman regularization scheme and in the Four Dimensional Helicity scheme with non-anticommutating and anticommutating $γ_5$ strategies.
We present the complete set of Feynman rules producing the rational terms of kind R_2 needed to perform any 1-loop calculation in the Electroweak Standard Model. Our formulae are given both in the R_xi gauge and in the Unitary gauge, therefore completing the results in the 't Hooft-Feynman gauge already presented in a previous publication. As a consistency check, we verified, in the case of the process H -> gamma gamma and in a few other physical cases, the independence of the total Rational Part R_1+R_2 on the chosen gauge. In addition, we explicitly checked the equivalence of the limits xi -…
We present a general procedure for obtaining the coefficients of the scalar bubble and triangle integral functions of one-loop amplitudes. Coefficients are extracted by considering two-particle and triple unitarity cuts of the corresponding bubble and triangle integral functions. After choosing a specific parameterisation of the cut loop momentum we can uniquely identify the coefficients of the desired integral functions simply by examining the behaviour of the cut integrand as the unconstrained parameters of the cut loop momentum approach infinity. In this way we can produce compact forms for…
We compute the complete set of Feynman Rules producing the Rational Terms of kind R_2 needed to perform any QCD 1-loop calculation. We also explicitly check that in order to account for the entire R_2 contribution, even in case of processes with more than four external legs, only up to four-point vertices are needed. Our results are expressed both in the 't Hooft Veltman regularization scheme and in the Four Dimensional Helicity scheme, using explicit color configurations as well as the color connection language.
We present a fully automated procedure providing an easy way to perform, systematically, phenomenological analyses in flavor physics for general BSM scenarios. This procedure relies on MARTY-1.4, is model independent and requires as input only the Lagrangian of the theory. Once the Lagrangian has been defined, tree-level and one-loop Wilson coefficients can be calculated symbolically by MARTY, from which flavor observables can be computed numerically by available software programs. We focus in particular on $b\to sγ$ and the recently updated $b\to s\ell^+\ell^-$ observables which are in tensio…
We study Feynman rules for the rational part $R$ of the Standard Model amplitudes at one-loop level in the 't Hooft-Veltman $γ_5$ scheme. Comparing our results for quantum chromodynamics and electroweak 1-loop amplitudes with that obtained based on the Kreimer-Korner-Schilcher (KKS) $γ_5$ scheme, we find the latter result can be recovered when our $γ_5$ scheme becomes identical (by setting $g5s=1$ in our expressions) with the KKS scheme. As an independent check, we also calculate Feynman rules obtained in the KKS scheme, finding our results in complete agreement with formulae presented in the …
We present a calculation of the rational terms in two-loop all-plus gluon amplitudes using $D$-dimensional unitarity. We use a conjecture of separability of the two loops, and then a simple generalization of one-loop $D$-dimensional unitarity to perform calculations. We compute the four- and five-point rational terms analytically, and the six- and seven-point ones numerically. We find agreement with previous calculations of Dalgleish, Dunbar, Godwin, Jehu, Perkins, and Strong. For a special subleading-color amplitude, we compute the eight- and nine-point results numerically, and find agreement…
We present the complete set of Feynman rules producing the rational terms of kind R_2 needed to perform any 1-loop calculation in the Electroweak Standard Model. Our results are given both in the 't Hooft-Veltman and in the Four Dimensional Helicity regularization schemes. We also verified, by using both the 't Hooft-Feynman gauge and the Background Field Method, a huge set of Ward identities -up to 4-points- for the complete rational part of the Electroweak amplitudes. This provides a stringent check of our results and, as a by-product, an explicit test of the gauge invariance of the Four Dim…
All four-point mixed gluon-graviton amplitudes in pure Einstein-Yang-Mills theory with at most one state of negative helicity are computed at one-loop order and maximal powers of the gauge coupling using D-dimensional generalized unitarity. The resulting purely rational expressions take very compact forms. We comment on the color-kinematics duality picture and a relation to collinear limits of pure gluon amplitudes.
The advent of efficient numerical algorithms for the construction of one-loop amplitudes has played a crucial role in the automation of NLO calculations, and the development of similar algorithms at two loops is a natural strategy for NNLO automation. Within a numerical framework the numerator of loop integrals is usually constructed in four dimensions, and the missing rational terms, which arise from the interplay of the $(D-4)$-dimensional parts of the loop numerator with $1/(D-4)$ poles in $D$ dimensions, are reconstructed separately. At one loop, such rational terms arise only from UV dive…
Scattering amplitudes in $D$ dimensions involve particular terms that originate from the interplay of UV poles with the $D-4$ dimensional parts of loop numerators. Such contributions can be controlled through a finite set of process-independent rational counterterms, which make it possible to compute loop amplitudes with numerical tools that construct the loop numerators in four dimensions. Building on a recent study [1] of the general properties of two-loop rational counterterms, in this paper we investigate their dependence on the choice of renormalisation scheme. We identify a nontrivial fo…
Rational counterterms are a key ingredient for the automation of loop calculations through numerical methods. Building on the recently established properties of rational terms of UV origin at two loops, in this paper we present a systematic method for the determination of rational counterterms within spontaneously broken theories. In particular we introduce a generalised vev-expansion approach that makes it possible to obtain the rational counterterms of UV origin for a spontaneously broken theory by means of calculations in the unbroken phase. The drastic simplifications that result from the …
A general formalism for computing only the rational parts of oneloop QCD amplitudes is developed. Starting from the Feynman integral representation of the one-loop amplitude, we use tensor reduction and recursive relations to compute the rational parts directly. Explicit formulas for the rational parts are given for all bubble and triangle integrals. Formulas are also given for box integrals up to two-masshard boxes which are the needed ingredients to compute up to 6-gluon QCD amplitudes. We use this method to compute explicitly the rational parts of the 5- and 6-gluon QCD amplitudes in two ac…
The rational parts of 5-gluon one-loop amplitudes are computed by using the newly developed method for computing the rational parts directly from Feynman integrals. We found complete agreement with the previously well-known results of Bern, Dixon and Kosower obtained by using the string theory method. Intermediate results for some combinations of Feynman diagrams are presented in order to show the efficiency of the method and the local cancellation between different contributions.
The rational parts of 6-gluon one-loop amplitudes with scalars circulating in the loop are computed by using the newly developed method for computing the rational parts directly from Feynman integrals. We present the analytic results for the two MHV helicity configurations: $(1^-2^+3^+4^-5^+6^+)$ and $(1^-2^+3^-4^+5^+6^+)$, and the two NMHV helicity configurations: $(1^-2^-3^+4^-5^+6^+)$ and $(1^-2^+3^-4^+5^-6^+)$. Combined with the previously computed results for the cut-constructible part, our results are the last missing pieces for the complete partial helicity amplitudes of the 6-gluon one…
A dimensionally continued background-field method makes the rationality of the 4-loop quenched QED beta function far more reasonable than had previously appeared. After 33 years of quest, dating from Rosner's discovery of 3-loop rationality, one finally sees cancellation of zeta values by the trace structure of individual diagrams. At 4-loops, diagram-by-diagram cancellation of $ζ(5)$ does not even rely on the values of integrals at d=4. Rather, it is a property of the rational functions of $d$ that multiply elements of the full d-dimensional basis. We prove a lemma: the basis consists of slic…
We show that direct Feynman-parametric loop integration is possible for a large class of planar multi-loop integrals. Much of this follows from the existence of manifestly dual-conformal Feynman-parametric representations of planar loop integrals, and the fact that many of the algebraic roots associated with (e.g. Landau) leading singularities are automatically rationalized in momentum-twistor space---facilitating direct integration via partial fractioning. We describe how momentum twistors may be chosen non-redundantly to parameterize particular integrals, and how strategic choices of coordin…
We elaborate on the expansion of hypergeometric functions about rational parameters, where we focus mainly on the integer and half-integer case. The strategy and the basic steps of a recently developed algorithm for the expansion about half-integer parameters are described. The algorithm is implemented in the Mathematica package HypExp, by means of which we derive (partially new) results of selected multi-loop Feynman diagrams. Moreover, we give a new formulation of a conjecture in the context of a three-loop master integral in HQET.
The extraction of the finite temperature heavy quark potential from lattice QCD relies on a spectral analysis of the Wilson loop. General arguments tell us that the lowest lying spectral peak encodes, through its position and shape, the real and imaginary part of this complex potential. Here we benchmark this extraction strategy using leading order hard-thermal loop (HTL) calculations. I.e. we analytically calculate the Wilson loop and determine the corresponding spectrum. By fitting its lowest lying peak we obtain the real- and imaginary part and confirm that the knowledge of the lowest peak …
We study quantum loop corrections to two-point functions and extraction of physical quantities in a five-dimensional $ϕ^4$ theory on an orbifold. At two-loop level, we find that divergence for quartic derivative terms of $(p^2)^2$ appear as Lagrangian terms in the bulk. The counterterms are needed and these terms make propagators have two poles. With this effect taken into account, corrections to masses are derived. We show that for extraction of physical quantities for two-point functions an ultraviolet cutoff must be orders of magnitude larger compared to a compactification scale. Even highe…
We present a program that implements the OPP reduction method to extract the coefficients of the one-loop scalar integrals from a user defined (sub)-amplitude or Feynman Diagram, as well as the rational terms coming from the 4-dimensional part of the numerator. The rational pieces coming from the epsilon-dimensional part of the numerator are treated as an external input, and can be computed with the help of dedicated tree-level like Feynman rules. Possible numerical instabilities are dealt with the help of arbitrary precision routines, that activate only when needed.
We use rational approximants to study missing higher orders in the massless scalar-current quark correlator. We predict the yet unknown six-loop coefficient of its imaginary part, related to $Γ(H\to b \bar b)$, to be $c_5=-6900\pm 1400$. With this result, the perturbative series becomes almost insensitive to renormalization scale variations and the intrinsic QCD truncation uncertainty is tiny. This confirms the expectation that higher-order loop computations for this quantity will not be required in the foreseeable future, as the uncertainty in $Γ(H\to b \bar b)$ will remain largely dominated …
The evaluation of multi-loop Feynman integrals is one of the main challenges in the computation of precise theoretical predictions for the cross sections measured at the LHC. In recent years, the method of differential equations has proven to be a powerful tool for the computation of Feynman integrals. It has been observed that the differential equation of Feynman integrals can in many instances be transformed into a so-called canonical form, which significantly simplifies its integration in terms of iterated integrals. The main result of this thesis is an algorithm to compute rational transfo…
We establish an efficient polynomial-complexity algorithm for one-loop calculations, based on generalized $D$-dimensional unitarity. It allows automated computations of both cut-constructible {\it and} rational parts of one-loop scattering amplitudes from on-shell tree amplitudes. We illustrate the method by (re)-computing all four-, five- and six-gluon scattering amplitudes in QCD at one-loop.
We present a brief review of current methods for the calculation of multi-loop amplitudes including recent developments. As an example we present the calculation of the second moment of the heavy quark current correlator and the extraction of the values of the charm and bottom quark masses using the results of this calculation.
We discuss some topics concerning rational approximations in Quantum Chromodynamics, especially those related with the mathematical theory of Padé Approximants. We focus on two kind of problems: the first one related with meromorphic functions (inspired by the Large-Nc limit in QCD) where we explore the Minimal Hadronic Approximation through the extraction of Low-Energy Constants and Condensate parameters of a two-point Green's function; and the second one related with meromorphic functions of Stieltjes-type where we present a critical analysis to a unitarization process applied to the Linear …
We show how to extract the coefficients of the 4-, 3-, 2- and 1-point one-loop scalar integrals from the full one-loop amplitude of arbitrary scattering processes. In a similar fashion, also the rational terms can be derived. Basically no information on the analytical structure of the amplitude is required, making our method appealing for an efficient numerical implementation
We show some new applications of on-shell methods to calculate compact helicity amplitudes for t tbar production through gluon fusion. The rational and mass renormalisation contributions are extracted from two independent Feynman diagram based approaches.
All one-massless-loop Feynman diagrams could be written like a linear combination of scalar boxes, triangles an bubbles in $n$ dimensions plus rational terms. However, the four-point scalar integrals in $n+2$ dimensions are free of infrared divergences. We are going to change the dimensions of the scalar boxes $n \to n+2$ and the using of this degree of freedom to simplify the computation of coefficients of the decomposition.
This article studies methods to obtain relations for scattering amplitudes at the loop level, with concrete examples at one loop. These methods originate in the analysis of large so-called Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten shifts of tree level amplitudes and loop level integrands. In particular BCFW shifts for particles which are not color adjacent and some particular generalizations of this situation are analyzed in some detail in four and higher dimensions. For generic non-adjacent shifts our results are independent of loop order for integrands and hold for generic minimally coupled gauge theories …
We show that one-loop amplitudes in massless gauge theories can be determined from single cuts. By cutting a single propagator and putting it on-shell, the integrand of an n-point one-loop integral is transformed into an (n+2)-particle tree level amplitude. The single-cut approach described here is complementary to the double or multiple unitarity cut approaches commonly used in the literature. In common with these approaches, if the cut is taken in four dimensions, one finds only the cut-constructible parts of the amplitude, while if the cut is in D=4-2 epsilon dimensions, both rational and c…
We calculate the nucleon axial form factor up to the leading one-loop order in a covariant chiral effective field theory with the $Δ(1232)$ resonance as an explicit degree of freedom. We fit the axial form factor to the latest lattice QCD data and pin down the relevant low-energy constants. The lattice QCD data, for various pion masses below $400$ MeV, can be well described up to a momentum transfer of $\sim 0.6$ GeV. The $Δ(1232)$ loops contribute significantly to this agreement. Furthermore, we extract the axial charge and radius based on the fitted values of the low energy constants. The re…
We present work on two-loop amplitudes in pure Yang-Mills theory with all gluons of identical helicity. We show how to obtain their rational terms -- the hardest parts to compute -- via well-understood one-loop unitarity techniques.
One-loop amplitudes may be expanded in a basis of scalar integrals multiplied by rational coefficients. We relate the coefficient of the one-point integral to the coefficients of higher-point integrals, by considering the effects of introducing an additional, unphysical propagator, subject to certain conditions.
We study Feynman integrals and scattering amplitudes in ${\cal N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills by exploiting the duality with null polygonal Wilson loops. Certain Feynman integrals, including one-loop and two-loop chiral pentagons, are given by Feynman diagrams of a supersymmetric Wilson loop, where one can perform loop integrations and be left with simple integrals along edges. As the main application, we compute analytically for the first time, the symbol of the generic ($n\geq 12$) double pentagon, which gives two-loop MHV amplitudes and components of NMHV amplitudes to all multiplicities. We repres…
When using dimensional regularization/reduction the epsilon-dimensional numerator of the 1-loop Feynman diagrams gives rise to rational contributions. I list the set of fundamental rules that allow the extraction of such terms at the integrand level in any theory containing scalars, vectors and fermions, such as the electroweak standard model, QCD and SUSY.
We present a new method for computing complete one-loop amplitudes, including their rational parts, in non-supersymmetric gauge theory. This method merges the unitarity method with on-shell recursion relations. It systematizes a unitarity-factorization bootstrap approach previously applied by the authors to the one-loop amplitudes required for next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the processes e^+e^- -> Z,γ^* -> 4 jets and pp -> W + 2 jets. We illustrate the method by reproducing the one-loop color-ordered five-gluon helicity amplitudes in QCD that interfere with the tree amplitude, namely…
We use massive CSW rules to derive explicit compact expressions for integrands of rational terms in QCD with any number of external legs. Specifically, we present all-n integrands for the one-loop all-plus and one-minus gluon amplitudes in QCD. We extract the finite part of spurious external-bubble contributions systematically; this is crucial for the application of integrand-level CSW rules in theories without supersymmetry. Our approach yields integrands that are independent of the choice of CSW reference spinor even before integration. Furthermore, we present a recursive derivation of the r…
We show how generalised unitarity cuts in D = 4 - 2 epsilon dimensions can be used to calculate efficiently complete one-loop scattering amplitudes in non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. This approach naturally generates the rational terms in the amplitudes, as well as the cut-constructible parts. We test the validity of our method by re-deriving the one-loop ++++, -+++, --++, -+-+ and +++++ gluon scattering amplitudes using generalised quadruple cuts and triple cuts in D dimensions.
We compute the complete one-loop corrections to the simplest class of QCD gluon amplitudes, those with two color-adjacent opposite-helicity external particles. We present results for an arbitrary number of external legs. The computation uses the recently-developed on-shell recursion relations for the rational parts, along with older unitarity-based results for the cut-containing terms.
