We present analytic evaluations of some integrals needed to give explicitly the integrated real-virtual integrated counterterms, based on a recently proposed subtraction scheme for next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) jet cross sections. After an algebraic reduction of the integrals, integration-by-parts identities are used for the reduction to master integrals and for the computation of the master integrals themselves by means of differential equations. The results are written in terms of one- and two-dimensional harmonic polylogarithms, once an extension of the standard basis is made. We expect that the techniques described here will be useful in computing other integrals emerging in calculations in perturbative quantum field theories.
In the context of a subtraction method for jet cross sections at NNLO accuracy in the strong coupling, we perform the integration over the two-particle factorised phase space of the collinear-type contributions to the doubly unresolved counterterms. We present the final result as a convolution in colour space of the Born cross section and of an insertion operator, which is written in terms of master integrals that we expand in the dimensional regularisation parameter.
We briefly review a subtraction scheme for computing radiative corrections to QCD jet cross sections that can be defined at any order in perturbation theory. Hereafter we discuss the computational methods used to evaluate analytically and numerically the integrated counterterms arising from such a subtraction scheme. Basically these methods the Mellin-Barnes (MB) representations technique together with the harmonic summation and the sector decomposition.
We present analytic expressions of all integrals required to complete the explicit evaluation of the real-virtual integrated counterterms needed to define a recently proposed subtraction scheme for jet cross sections at next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD. We use the Mellin-Barnes representation of these integrals in $4-2ε$ dimensions to obtain the coefficients of their Laurent expansions around $ε=0$. These coefficients are given by linear combinations of multidimensional Mellin-Barnes integrals. We compute the coefficients of such expansions in $ε$ both numerically and analytically by compl…
One of the most important O($α_s^2$) corrections to the $B \to X_s γ$ branching ratio originates from interference of contributions from the current-current and photonic dipole operators. Its value has been estimated using an interpolation in the charm quark mass between the known results at $m_c=0$ and for $m_c \ll m_b/2$. An explicit calculation for the physical value of $m_c$ is necessary to remove the associated uncertainty. In the present work, we evaluate all the ultraviolet counterterm contributions that are relevant for this purpose.
A new method for local subtraction at next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD is sketched, attempting to conjugate the minimal counterterm structure arising from a sector partition of the radiation phase space with the simplifications following from analytic integration of the counterterms.
We present a new method for the local subtraction of infrared divergences at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD, for generic infrared-safe observables. Our method attempts to conjugate the minimal local counterterm structure arising from a sector partition of the radiation phase space with the simplifications following from analytic integration of the counterterms. In this first implementation, the method applies to final-state massless particles. We show how our method compactly organises infrared subtraction at NLO, we deduce in detail the general structure of the subtraction terms …
Within the framework of local analytic sector subtraction, we present the full analytic integration of double-real and real-virtual local infrared counterterms that enter NNLO QCD computations with any number of massless final-state partons. We show that a careful choice of phase-space mappings leads to simple analytic results, including non-singular terms, that can be obtained with conventional integration techniques.
We finish the definition of a subtraction scheme for computing NNLO corrections to QCD jet cross sections. In particular, we perform the integration of the soft-type contributions to the doubly unresolved counterterms via the method of Mellin-Barnes representations. With these final ingredients in place, the definition of the scheme is complete and the computation of fully differential rates for electron-positron annihilation into two and three jets at NNLO accuracy becomes feasible.
We present a subtraction scheme for computing jet cross sections in electron-positron annihilation at next-to-next-to-leading order accuracy in perturbative QCD. In this second part we deal with the regularization of the real-virtual contribution to the NNLO correction.
I present a master formula for the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) soft and virtual QCD corrections for any process in hadron-hadron and lepton-hadron colliders. The formula is derived from a unified threshold resummation formalism. Applications to various QCD processes are discussed.
We present the NNLO corrections to top pair production in the quark-antiquark channel proportional to the number of light quark flavors $N_l$. While the double real corrections were derived previously, here we compute the real-virtual and virtual-virtual contributions in this partonic channel. Using the antenna subtraction formalism, we show that the subtraction terms correctly approximate the real-virtual contributions in all their infrared limits. Combined with the integrated forms of the double real and real-virtual subtraction terms, we show analytically that the explicit infrared poles ca…
I present applications of a master formula for next-to-next-to-leading order soft and virtual QCD corrections to various electroweak, Higgs, and supersymmetric processes. They include Drell-Yan and charged Higgs production, single-top production in flavor-changing neutral-current processes, and squark and gluino production.
We consider QCD corrections to Higgs boson production through gluon-gluon fusion in hadron collisions. Using the recently evaluated two-loop amplitude for this process and the corresponding factorization formulae for soft-gluon bremsstrahlung at O(alpha_s^2), we compute the soft and virtual contributions to the NNLO cross section. We also discuss soft-gluon resummation at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. Numerical results for Higgs boson production at the LHC are presented.
We determine, in the antenna subtraction framework for handling infrared divergences in higher order QCD calculations, the real-virtual antenna functions for processes involving the production of a pair of massive quarks by an uncolored initial state at NNLO QCD. The integrated leading and subleading color real-virtual antenna functions are computed analytically in terms of (cyclotomic) harmonic polylogarithms. As a by-product and check we compute $R_Q=σ(e^+e^-\to γ^*\to Q\bar{Q}X)/σ(e^+e^-\to γ^*\toμ^+μ^-)$ and compare with existing results. Our result for $R_Q$ is exact to order $α_s^2$.
The next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD analysis is performed for the virtual photon structure functions which can be measured in the double-tag events in two-photon processes in $e^+e^-$ collisions. We investigate the perturbative QCD evaluation of $F_2^γ(x,Q^2,P^2)$ to NNLO and $F_L^γ(x,Q^2,P^2)$ to NLO with and without taking into account the target mass effects, which are relevant for the large $x$ region. We also carry out the phenomenological analysis for the experimentally accessible effective structure function $F_{\rm eff}^γ=F_2^γ+(3/2)F_L^γ$.
The contributions of virtual corrections and soft gluon emission to the inclusive Higgs production cross section pp -> H + X are computed at next-to-next-to-leading order in the heavy top quark limit. We show that this part of the total cross section is well behaved in the sense of perturbative convergence, with the NNLO corrections amounting to an enhancement of the NLO cross section by \sim 5% for LHC and 10-20% for the Tevatron. We compare our results with an existing estimate of the full NNLO effects and argue that an analytic evaluation of the hard scattering contributions is needed.
We consider the infrared structure of hadron-hadron collisions at next-to-next-to leading order using the antenna subtraction method. The general form of the subtraction terms is presented for double real, real-virtual and double virtual contributions. At NLO and NNLO it is shown that the virtual and double virtual subtraction terms can be written in terms of integrated dipoles, formed by systematically combining the mass factorisation contributions and integrated antenna functions. The integrated dipoles describing $\ell$ unresolved partons, denoted $\bs{J}_{2}^{(\ell)}$, are related to Catan…
The antenna subtraction method handles real radiation contributions in higher order corrections to jet observables. The method is based on antenna functions, which encapsulate all unresolved radiation between a pair of hard radiator partons. To apply this method to compute hadron collider observables, initial-initial antenna functions with both radiators in the initial state are required. In view of extending the antenna subtraction method to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations at hadron colliders, we derive the one-loop initial-initial antenna functions in unintegrated and integ…
Parton distributions in the virtual photon target are investigated in perturbative QCD up to the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). In the case $Λ^2 \ll P^2 \ll Q^2$, where $-Q^2$ ($-P^2$) is the mass squared of the probe (target) photon, parton distributions can be predicted completely up to the NNLO, but they are factorisation-scheme-dependent. We analyse parton distributions in two different factorisation schemes, namely $\bar{\rm MS}$ and ${\rm DIS}_γ$ schemes, and discuss their scheme dependence. We show that the factorisation-scheme dependence is characterised by the large-$x$ behavio…
In this paper we consider the next-to-next-to-leading order total cross section of Higgs boson pair production in the large top quark mass limit and compute four expansion terms in $1/m_t^2$. Good convergence is observed below the top quark threshold, which makes our results a valuable input for approximation methods which aim for next-to-next-to-leading order corrections over the whole kinematic range. We present details on various steps of our calculation; in particular, we provide results for three- and four-particle phase-space master integrals and describe in detail the evaluation of the …
We obtain a soft plus virtual approximation to the NNLO QCD contributions to the top-pair invariant mass distribution at hadron colliders. It is valid up to corrections of order m_t^2/M^2, with M the pair invariant mass. This is currently the most complete QCD calculation for a differential cross section in top-quark pair production, and is useful for describing the high invariant mass region characteristic of boosted top quarks. We use our results to construct an improved NNLO approximation for the pair invariant mass distribution and compare it with previous, less complete approximations bas…
We compute the real-radiation corrections to Higgs boson pair production at next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD, in an expansion for large top quark mass. We concentrate on the radiative corrections to the interference contribution from the next-to-leading order one-particle reducible and the leading order amplitudes. This is a well defined and gauge invariant subset of the full real-virtual corrections to the inclusive cross section. We obtain analytic results for all phase-space master integrals both as an expansion around the threshold and in an exact manner in terms of Goncharov polylogar…
We report on a recent calculation of the two-loop virtual QCD corrections to the W boson pair production in the quark-anti-quark-annihilation channel in the limit where all kinematical invariants are large compared to the mass of the W boson. Our result is exact up to terms suppressed by powers of the W boson mass. The infrared pole structure is in agreement with the prediction of Catani's general formalism for the singularities of two-loop QCD amplitudes.
Using the approach based on conformal symmetry we calculate the two-loop coefficient function for the axial-vector contributions to two-photon processes in the $\overline{\rm MS}$ scheme. This is the last missing element for the complete next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculation of the the pion transition form factor $γ^\astγ\to π$ in perturbative QCD. The corresponding high-statistics measurement is planned by the Belle II collaboration and will allow one to put strong constraints on the pion light-cone distribution amplitude. The calculated NNLO corrections prove to be rather large an…
We present the computation of the double real and real-virtual contributions to top-antitop pair production in the quark-antiquark channel at leading colour. The $q \bar q \to t \bar{t} g$ amplitudes contributing to the real-virtual part are computed with OpenLoops, and their numerical stability in the soft and collinear regions is found to be sufficiently high to perform a realistic NNLO calculation in double precision. The subtraction terms required at real-real and real-virtual levels are constructed within the antenna subtraction formalism extended to deal with the presence of coloured mas…
We propose a new method of computing real emission contributions to hard QCD processes. Our approach uses sector decomposition of the exclusive final-state phase space to enable extraction of all singularities of the real emission matrix elements before integration over any kinematic variable. The exact kinematics of the real emission process are preserved in all regions of phase space. Traditional approaches to extracting singularities from real emission matrix elements, such as phase space slicing and dipole subtraction, require both the determination of counterterms for double real emission…
We discuss the result with full mass dependence for the virtual NNLO QCD corrections to the W boson pair production in the quark-anti-quark annihilation channel. We also report on our progress regarding the treatment of the double-real radiative corrections which, along with the virtual-real corrections, are the other two necessary ingredients for a theoretical prediction of the total cross section for W+ W- production to NNLO accuracy.
Pushing the reach of NNLO QCD predictions to $2\to3$ production processes is one of the pillars of precision phenomenology program at the LHC. In this talk we will overview recent results and developments in the calculation of two-loop five-point amplitudes contributing towards achieving this goal. We will discuss challenges encountered in advancing the state-of-the-art beyond the class of massless five-point scattering. We will then present a basis set of transcendental functions sufficient to express any planar two-loop five-particle scattering amplitude with one external massive leg. This b…
Virtual hadronic contributions to the Bhabha process at the NNLO level are discussed. They are substantial for predictions with per mil accuracy. The studies of heavy fermion and hadron corrections complete the calculation of Bhabha virtual effects at the NNLO level.
The unpolarized virtual photon structure functions $F_2^γ(x,Q^2,P^2)$ and $F_L^γ(x,Q^2,P^2)$ are investigated in perturbative QCD for the kinematical region $Λ^2 \ll P^2 \ll Q^2$, where $-Q^2(-P^2)$ is the mass squared of the probe (target) photon and $Λ$ is the QCD scale parameter. In the framework of operator product expansion supplemented by the renormalization group method, the definite predictions are derived for the moments of $F_2^γ(x,Q^2,P^2)$ up to the next-to-next-to-leading order (the order $αα_s$) and for the moments of $F_L^γ(x,Q^2,P^2)$ up to the next-to-leading order (the order …
We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the double virtual infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. In previous papers, we derived the subtraction terms that rendered (a) the double real radiation tree-level process finite in the single and double unresolved regions of phase space and (b) the mixed single real radiation one-loop process both finite and well behaved in the unresolved regions of phase space. Here, we show how to construct the double virtual subtraction term using antenna functions with both initial- and final-stat…
We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the mixed real-virtual infrared singularities present in gluonic scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. In a previous paper, we derived the subtraction term that rendered the double real radiation tree-level process finite in the single and double unresolved regions of phase space. Here, we show how to construct the real-virtual subtraction term using antenna functions with both initial- and final-state partons which removes the explicit infrared poles present in the one-loop amplitude, as well as the implicit singularities that…
We outline the computational details to obtain mixed EW-QCD corrections to on-shell production of a single vector boson at the LHC at two-loop level. We use the method of differential equation to obtain the pure virtual, real-virtual and double-real master integrals. Finally, we obtain the ${\cal O}(αα_s)$ corrections to the total partonic cross section of the process $q \bar{q} \rightarrow Z + X$.
We use the antenna subtraction method to isolate the infrared singularities present in QCD scattering amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order. In particular, infrared singularities due to double-real radiation and real-virtual radiation are subtracted from the QCD matrix elements using antenna functions which are then integrated analytically and added to the double-virtual contribution. Here we consider two-jet production at NNLO at hadron colliders and construct subtraction terms for the double-real and real-virtual channels that describe the single and double unresolved configurations of…
We present the O(as^4) virtual QCD corrections to unlike-quark and like-quark scattering due to the interference of one-loop amplitudes with one-loop amplitudes. The structure of the infrared divergences agrees with that predicted by Catani. The results are expressed in an analytic form so that the relevant expressions for crossed scattering processes can be obtained in a straightforward manner. The one-loop contributions presented here, together with the interference of tree with two-loop amplitudes given recently, complete the 2 to 2 virtual QCD corrections at NNLO for the massless quark sca…
A critical subject in fully differential QED calculations originates from numerical instabilities due to small fermion masses that act as regulators of collinear singularities. At next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) a major challenge is therefore to find a stable implementation of numerically delicate real-virtual matrix elements. In the case of Bhabha scattering this has so far prevented the development of a fixed-order Monte Carlo at NNLO accuracy. In this paper we present a new method for stabilising the real-virtual matrix element. It is based on the expansion for soft photon energies inc…
We complete the analytic evaluation of the master integrals for the two-loop non-planar box diagrams contributing to the top-pair production in the quark-initiated channel, at next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD. The integrals are determined from their differential equations, which are cast into a canonical form using the Magnus exponential. The analytic expressions of the Laurent series coefficients of the integrals are expressed as combinations of generalized polylogarithms, which we validate with several numerical checks. We discuss the analytic continuation of the planar and the non-plana…
We compute the soft and virtual NNLO QCD corrections to Higgs production through gluon-gluon fusion at hadron colliders. We present numerical results obtained at the LHC and at the Tevatron Run II.
We consider QCD radiative corrections to Higgs boson pair production through gluon fusion in proton collisions. We combine the exact next-to-leading order (NLO) contribution, which features two-loop virtual amplitudes with the full dependence on the top quark mass $M_t$, with the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) corrections computed in the large-$M_t$ approximation. The latter are improved with different reweighting techniques in order to account for finite-$M_t$ effects beyond NLO. Our reference NNLO result is obtained by combining one-loop double-real corrections with full $M_t$ dependen…
In previous articles we outlined a subtraction scheme for regularizing doubly-real emission and real-virtual emission in next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations of jet cross sections in electron-positron annihilation. In order to find the NNLO correction these subtraction terms have to be integrated over the factorized unresolved phase space and combined with the two-loop corrections. In this paper we perform the integration of all one-parton unresolved subtraction terms.
We consider Higgs boson production through gluon--gluon fusion in hadron collisions, when a veto is applied on the transverse momenta of the accompanying hard jets. We compute the QCD radiative corrections to this process at NLO and NNLO. The NLO calculation is complete. The NNLO calculation uses the recently evaluated NNLO soft and virtual QCD contributions to the inclusive cross section. We find that the jet veto reduces the impact of the NLO and NNLO contributions, the reduction being more sizeable at the LHC than at the Tevatron.
We present the current status of the Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order QED contribution to the $μe$-scattering. Particular focus is given to the techniques involved to tackle the virtual amplitude and their automatic implementation. Renormalization of the amplitude will be also discuss in details.
We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) soft and virtual QCD corrections for the partonic cross section of colourless-final state processes in hadronic collisions. The results are valid to all orders in the dimensional regularization parameter $\ep$. The dependence of the results on a particular process is given through finite contributions to the one and two-loop amplitudes. To evaluate the accuracy of the soft-virtual approximation we compare it with the full NNLO result for Drell-Yan and Higgs boson production via gluon fusion. We also provide a universal expression for the hard…
We consider the production of a vector boson ($Z$, $W^\pm$ or $γ^*$) at next-to-next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant $α_{\rm S}$. We impose a transverse-momentum cutoff, $q_{\rm T}^{\rm cut}$, on the vector boson produced in the $qg$-initiated channel. We then compute the power corrections in the cutoff, up to the second power, of the real-virtual interference contribution to the cumulative cross section at order $α_{\rm S}^2$. Other terms with the same kinematics, originating from the subtraction method applied to the double-real contribution, have been also considered. The k…
The recently proposed MUonE experiment at CERN aims at providing a novel determination of the leading order hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment through the study of elastic muon-electron scattering at relatively small momentum transfer. The anticipated accuracy of the order of 10ppm demands for high-precision predictions, including all the relevant radiative corrections. The fixed-order NNLO radiative corrections due to the emission of virtual and real leptonic pairs are described and their numerical impact is discussed for typical event selections of the MUonE experime…
Deeply-virtual Compton scattering gives access to the generalized parton distributions that encode the information on the transverse position of quarks and gluons in the proton in dependence in their longitudinal momentum. In anticipation of the high-precision experimental data in a broad kinematic range from the Electron-Ion Collider, we have calculated the two-loop, next-to-next-to-leading (NNLO) DVCS coefficient functions associated with the dominant Compton form factors $\mathcal H$ and $\mathcal E$ at large energies. The NNLO correction to the imaginary part of $\mathcal H$ appears to be …
We present the first calculation of a fully-unintegrated parton distribution (beam function) at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). We obtain the fully-differential beam function for quark-initiated processes by matching it onto standard parton distribution functions (PDFs) at two loops. The fully-differential beam function is a universal ingredient in resummed predictions of observables probing both the virtuality as well as the transverse momentum of the incoming quark in addition to its usual longitudinal momentum fraction. For such double-differential observables our result provides the …
A detailed study of nucleon parton distribution functions is performed within a radiative Next-to-Next-to Leading Order (NNLO) parton model whose low-scale input is rigidly described by wave functions which include quarks and dressing meson-cloud. The light-front Hamiltonian dynamics fixes the three-quark wave functions and the meson cloud is introduced by means of high-order Fock component in time-ordered perturbation theory in the infinite momentum frame. Non-strange as well as strange mesons-baryon fluctuations are considered ($π$, $ρ$, $ω$, $K$ and $K^*$, together with $N$, $Δ$, $Λ$ and $Σ…
We give next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) predictions for the Higgs production cross section at large transverse momentum in the threshold limit. Near the partonic threshold, all radiation is either soft or collinear to the final state jet which recoils against the Higgs boson. We find that the real emission corrections are of moderate size, but that the virtual corrections are large. We discuss the origin of these corrections and give numerical predictions for the transverse-momentum spectrum. The threshold result is matched to the known NLO result and implemented in the public code PeTeR.
We review the status of the calculation of next-to-next-to-leading order corrections to large angle Bhabha scattering in pure QED. After discussing the electron-loop and photonic corrections, we focus on the recently calculated two-loop virtual corrections involving a heavy-flavor fermion loop. We conclude by assessing the numerical impact of these corrections on the Bhabha scattering cross section at colliders operating at a center of mass energy of about 1-GeV.
We evaluate the master integrals for the two-loop, 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 series 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 processe…
