The full prediction of the inclusive radiative B -> Xs gamma decay rate at NNLO requires a complete evaluation of missing charm quark mass dependent matrix elements. Recent developments in the on-going computations are reported and the current status is briefly overviewed.
Recent developements in the calculation of the NNLO QCD corrections to the charm quark mass dependent matrix elements in B -> X_s gamma are reported. Special emphasis is put on the new results of the virtual O(alpha_s^2) fermionic contribution to these matrix elements [1].
The theoretical status of NNLO QCD corrections to the inclusive radiative anti-B -> X_s gamma decay in the standard model is briefly overviewed. Emphasis is put on recent results for three-loop fermionic corrections to matrix elements of the most relevant four-quark operators.
Current status of the NNLO QCD corrections to B -> X_s gamma is reviewed. The calculations include three-loop matching conditions, four-loop anomalous dimensions as well as two- and three-loop on-shell amplitudes. Certain parts of the three-loop matrix elements are found by interpolation in the charm quark mass between the large-beta_0 approximation in the m_c=0 case and the complete result in the m_c >> m_b/2 case.
We calculate the contribution of the partonic processes gg->WZ q\bar{q} and gg -> W gamma q\bar{q} to WZ and W gamma pair production at hadron colliders, including anomalous triple gauge-boson couplings. We use the helicity method and include the decay of the W and Z-boson into leptons in the narrow-width approximation. In order to integrate over the q\bar{q} final state phase space we use an extended version of the subtraction method to NNLO and remove collinear singularities explicitly. Due to the large gluon density at low x, the gluon induced terms of vector-boson pair production are expec…
By combining a recent estimate of the total B-->X_s gamma branching fraction at O(alpha_s^2) with a detailed analysis of the effects of a cut E_gamma>1.6GeV on photon energy, a prediction for the partial B-->X_s gamma branching fraction at next-to-next-to-leading order in renormalization-group improved perturbation theory is obtained, in which contributions from all relevant scales are properly factorized. The result Br(B-->X_s gamma)=(2.98+-0.26)x10^{-4} is about 1.4 sigma lower than the experimental world average. This opens a window for significant New Physics contributions in rare radiativ…
Strengthening constraints on new physics from the B -> X_s gamma branching ratio requires improving accuracy in the measurements and the Standard Model predictions. To match the expected Belle-II accuracy, Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order (NNLO) QCD corrections must be calculated without the so-far employed interpolation in the charm-quark mass m_c. In the process of evaluating such corrections at the physical value of m_c, we have finalized the part coming from diagrams with closed fermion loops on the gluon lines that contribute to the interference of the current-current and photonic dipole ope…
The next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to top quark threshold pair production in gamma-gamma collisions are computed. The NNLO effects turn out to be significant. Threshold cross sections in gamma-gamma and e+e- collisions are compared.
We compute the virtual O(alpha_s^2) fermionic contributions to the charm quark mass dependent matrix elements of the B -> X_s gamma decay. In the case of a massless quark loop insertion into the gluon propagator, our result obtained as an expansion in z=m_c^2/m_b^2 and an exact expression in terms of multi-fold MB integrals, confirms the findings of Bieri, Greub and Steinhauser [19]. We observe, however, large deviations in the case of a b-quark loop insertion.The charm quark loop shows smaller, but still noticeable differences.
We discuss the prescription for the Dirac matrix gamma_5 in dimensional regularization used in most second- and third-order QCD calculations of collider cross sections. We provide an alternative implementation of this approach that avoids the use of an explicit form of gamma_5 and of its (anti-) commutation relations in the most important case of no more than one gamma_5 in each fermion trace. This treatment is checked by computing the third-order corrections to the structure functions F_2 and g_1 in charged-current deep-inelastic scattering with axial-vector couplings to the W-bosons. We deri…
One of the most troublesome contributions to the NNLO QCD corrections to B -> X_s gamma originates from three-loop matrix elements of four-quark operators. A part of this contribution that is proportional to the QCD beta-function coefficient beta_0 was found in 2003 as an expansion in m_c/m_b. In the present paper, we evaluate the asymptotic behaviour of the complete contribution for m_c >> m_b/2. The asymptotic form of the beta_0-part matches the small-m_c expansion very well at the threshold m_c = m_b/2. For the remaining part, we perform an interpolation down to the measured value of m_c, a…
The complete two-loop expression for the jet function J(p^2,mu) of soft-collinear effective theory is presented, including non-logarithmic terms. Combined with our previous calculation of the soft function S(omega,mu), this result provides the basis for a calculation of the effect of a photon-energy cut in the measurement of the B-->X_s+gamma decay rate at next-to-next-to-leading order in renormalization-group improved perturbation theory. The jet function is also relevant to the resummation of Sudakov logarithms in other hard QCD processes.
A theoretical analysis of the partial inclusive B-->X_s gamma decay rate with a cut E_gamma>E_0 on photon energy must deal with short-distance contributions associated with three different mass scales: the hard scale m_b, an intermediate scale \sqrt{m_b Delta}, and a soft scale Delta, where Delta=m_b-2E_0=1GeV for E_0=1.8GeV. The cut-dependent effects are described in terms of two perturbative objects called the jet function and the soft function, which for a next-to-next-to-leading order analysis of the decay rate are required with two-loop accuracy. The two-loop calculation of the soft funct…
A large set of techniques needed to compute decay rates at the two-loop level are derived and systematized. The main emphasis of the paper is on the two Standard Model decays H -> gamma gamma and H -> g g. The techniques, however, have a much wider range of application: they give practical examples of general rules for two-loop renormalization; they introduce simple recipes for handling internal unstable particles in two-loop processes; they illustrate simple procedures for the extraction of collinear logarithms from the amplitude. The latter is particularly relevant to show cancellations, e.g…
In this short review, the calculation of the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the inclusive radiative decay B -> X_s gamma is described. I summarize the salient features of the calculational framework adopted, discuss the results obtained in the last few years, and indicate the technical tools that made the NNLO calculations possible. I conclude by comparing the current NNLO theoretical estimate for the branching ratio with the experimental measurement and by briefly discussing the size and origin of the residual theoretical uncertainty.
We compute the differential B -> X_s gamma decay width in the Standard Model as a function of the photon energy using Dressed Gluon Exponentiation (DGE). The resummed spectrum is matched with the fixed-order expansion, making use of the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) results for the matrix element of the magnetic dipole interaction O_7 and NLO ones for other operators in the effective Weak Hamiltonian. We develop a new technique to implement constraints on the analytic structure of the Sudakov factor in moment space. This improves the behavior of the resummed spectrum away from the Sudak…
We review progress in the global QCD analysis by the CTEQ-TEA group since the publication of CT18 parton distribution functions (PDFs) in the proton. Specifically, we discuss comparisons of CT18 NNLO predictions with the LHC 13 TeV measurements as well as with the FNAL SeaQuest and BNL STAR data on lepton pair production. The specialized CT18X PDFs approximating saturation effects are compared with the CT18sx PDFs obtained using NLL/NLO small-$x$ resummation. Short summaries are presented for the special CT18 parton distributions with fitted charm and with lattice QCD inputs. A recent comparat…
We evaluate all phase space master integrals which are required for the total cross section of generic 2 -> 1 processes at NNLO as a series expansion in the dimensional regulator epsilon. Away from the limit of threshold production, our expansion includes one order higher than what has been available in the literature. At threshold, we provide expressions which are valid to all orders in terms of Gamma functions and hypergeometric functions. These results are a necessary ingredient for the renormalization and mass factorization of singularities in 2 -> 1 inclusive cross sections at NNNLO in QC…
We compute the O(α_s^2) contributions to the photon energy spectrum of the inclusive decay \bar{B} -> X_s γassociated with the magnetic penguin operator O_7. They are an essential part of the ongoing NNLO calculation of this important decay. We use two different methods to evaluate the master integrals, one based on the differential equation approach and the other on sector decomposition, leading to identical results which in turn agree with those of a recent independent calculation by Melnikov and Mitov. We study the numerical relevance of this set of NNLO contributions in the photon energy s…
The next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) corrections in massless perturbative QCD are derived for the parton distributions of the photon and the deep inelastic structure functions F_1^gamma and F_2^gamma. We present the full photonic coefficient functions at order alpha alpha_s and calculate the first six even-integer moments of the corresponding O(alpha alpha_s^2) photon-quark and photon-gluon splitting functions together with the moments of the alpha alpha_s^2 coefficient functions which enter only beyond NNLO. These results are employed to construct parametrizations of the splitting functio…
In this talk, we discuss recent developments in combining parton showers and fixed-order calculations. We focus on the UNNLOPS method for matching next-to-next-to-leading order computations to the parton shower, and we present results from Sherpa for Drell-Yan lepton-pair and Higgs-boson production at the LHC.
We update the standard model predictions for the branching ratios of the decays B -> (K,K*,Xs) l^+ l^-, with l=e,mu. Using the measurements of BR(B -> Xs gamma) and BR(B -> K l^+ l^-) as well as the upper limits on BR(B -> (K*,Xs) l^+ l^-)$, we work out model independent bounds on the relevant Wilson coefficients. We show the impact of such bounds on the parameter space of the MSSM with minimal flavour violation and of supersymmetric models with additional sources of flavour changing.
Weak radiative decays of the B mesons belong to the most important flavor changing processes that provide constraints on physics at the TeV scale. In the derivation of such constraints, accurate standard model predictions for the inclusive branching ratios play a crucial role. In the current Letter we present an update of these predictions, incorporating all our results for the O(alpha_s^2) and lower-order perturbative corrections that have been calculated after 2006. New estimates of nonperturbative effects are taken into account, too. For the CP- and isospin-averaged branching ratios, we fin…
The inclusive radiative decay of the B meson is known to provide strong constraints on many popular extensions of the Standard Model. Such constraints crucially depend on precision of the Standard Model predictions. One of the main contributions to the theoretical uncertainty is due to certain Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order QCD corrections whose values at the physical charm quark mass m_c have been estimated using interpolation between the m_c=0 and m_c >> m_b limits. A direct determination of such corrections at the physical value of m_c requires calculating hundreds of two-scale four-loop pro…
We present details of our evaluation of the NNLO QCD corrections to BR(B -> X_s gamma) in the heavy charm limit m_c >> m_b/2. Results of this calculation have been essential for estimating O(alpha_s^2) effects in this branching ratio via interpolation in m_c.
In this paper we illustrate the simplifications produced by FDR in NNLO computations. We show with an explicit example that - due to its four-dimensionality - FDR does not require an order-by-order renormalization and that, unlike the one-loop case, FDR and dimensional regularization (DR) generate intermediate two-loop results which are no longer linked by a simple subtraction of the ultraviolet (UV) poles in epsilon. Our case study is the two-loop amplitude for H -> gamma gamma, mediated by an infinitely heavy top loop, in the presence of gluonic corrections. We use this to elucidate how gaug…
We consider direct diphoton production in hadron collisions. We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD radiative corrections at the fully-differential level. Our calculation uses the q_T subtraction formalism and it is implemented in a parton level Monte Carlo program, which allows the user to apply arbitrary kinematical cuts on the final-state photons and the associated jet activity, and to compute the corresponding distributions in the form of bin histograms. We present selected numerical results related to Higgs boson searches at the LHC, and we show how the NNLO corrections t…
We present first results on the resummation of Next-to-Soft Virtual (NSV) logarithms for the threshold production of pseudoscalar Higgs boson through gluon fusion at the LHC. These results are presented after resumming the NSV logarithms of the kind ${\log}^{i}(1-z)$ to $\overline{\text{NNLL}}$ accuracy and matching them systematically to the fixed order NNLO cross-sections. These results are obtained using collinear factorization, renormalization group invariance and recent developments in the NSV resummation techniques. The phenomenological implications of these NSV resummed results for 13 T…
The current status of B -> Xs gamma decay rate calculations is summarized. Missing ingredients at the NNLO level are listed. The global normalization factor and non-perturbative effects are discussed. Arguments are presented that results for the cutoff-enhanced perturbative corrections have been misused in Ref. [15] by applying them in the region E_gamma \in [1.0, 1.6] GeV, which means that the corresponding numerical effect on BR(B -> Xs gamma, E_gamma > 1.6 GeV) is unreliable.
We study predictions from perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) for the process pp -> H -> gamma gamma + X. In particular, we compare fully differential calculations at next-to-leading (NLO) and next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in the strong coupling constant to the results obtained with the MC@NLO Monte Carlo (MC) generator, which combines QCD matrix elements at NLO with a parton shower algorithm. Estimates for the systematic uncertainties in the various predictions due to the choice of the renormalization scale and the parton distribution functions are given for the inclusive and acc…
Recent developments in the CTEQ-TEA global QCD analysis are presented. The parton distribution functions CT10-NNLO are described, constructed by comparing data from many experiments to NNLO approximations of QCD.
We compute the effective hamiltonian for non-leptonic |Delta F| = 1 decays in the standard model including next-to-next-to-leading order QCD corrections. In particular, we present the complete three-loop anomalous dimension matrix describing the mixing of current-current and QCD penguin operators. The calculation is performed in an operator basis which allows to consistently use fully anticommuting gamma_5 in dimensional regularization at an arbitrary number of loops. The renormalization scheme dependences and their cancellation in physical quantities is discussed in detail. Furthermore, we de…
I report on three recent topics from the field of two-body nonleptonic decays of $B_{(s)}$ mesons. The computation of two-loop NNLO corrections to the leading penguin amplitudes in QCD factorisation, puzzles that have emerged in colour-allowed tree-level decays to heavy-light final states, and a combination of QCD factorisation with $SU(3)$ flavour symmetry to estimate the size of weak-annihilation amplitudes.
We report on recent theoretical progress in radiative B decays. We focus on a calculation of logarithmically enhanced QED corrections to the branching ratio and forward-backward asymmetry in the inclusive rare decay anti-B --> X(s) l+ l-, and present the results of a detailed phenomenological analysis. We also report on the calculation of NNLO QCD corrections to the inclusive decay anti-B --> X(s) gamma. As far as exclusive modes are concerned we consider transversity amplitudes and the impact of right-handed currents in the exclusive anti-B --> K^* l+ l- decay. Finally, we state results for e…
The flavor-changing electromagnetic dipole operator O_7 gives the dominant contribution to the B -> Xs gamma decay rate. We calculate two-loop QCD corrections to its matrix element together with the corresponding bremsstrahlung contributions. The optical theorem is applied, and the relevant imaginary parts of three-loop diagrams are computed following the lines of our recent t -> Xb W calculation. The complete result allows us to test the validity of the naive non-abelianization (NNA) approximation that has been previously applied to estimate the NNLO QCD correction to Gamma(B -> Xs gamma)/Gam…
Recent developments in the calculation of the NNLO corrections to the Bhabha scattering differential cross section in pure QED are briefly reviewed and discussed.
We present a concise review of the recent theoretical progress concerning the standard model calculation of the inclusive radiative Bbar -> X_s gamma decay. Particular attention is thereby devoted to the calculations of the next-to-next-to-leading order fixed-order O(alpha_s^2) contributions, non-local O(alpha_s Lambda/m_b) power corrections, and logarithmic-enhanced O(alpha_s^2) cut-effects to the decay rate. The current status of new physics calculations of the inclusive b -> s gamma mode is also briefly summarized.
I summarize results and performance of the dynamical theory of charmless hadronic B decays, based on QCD factorization in the heavy quark limit. On the theoretical side, a number of NNLO (alpha_s^2) amplitudes are now available, all showing a well-behaved perturbative expansion. The large observed branching fraction in B0 -> pi0 pi0 remains a challenge, implying either a large inverse moment of the B-meson wave function or a sizable power correction (or unexpected new physics). B-factory/Belle2 analyses of B -> gamma l nu may shed light on this. On the other hand, the new Belle and LHCb measur…
I briefly review the current status of chiral perturbation theory in the meson sector. Emphasis is given on the quest for higher precision. I discuss two examples: one where it is difficult to make a good prediction (K_L -> pi^0 gamma gamma), and where CHPT, even when pushed to higher orders, cannot yield an increase in accuracy. The second one is pi pi scattering where a very sharp prediction can be made by combining CHPT at the two-loop level with dispersion relations
I discuss some aspects of the evolution of the standard GRB model, emphasizing various theoretical developments in the last decade, and review the impact of some of the most recent observational discoveries and the new challenges they pose in the expanding realm of multi-messenger astrophysics.
In view of future plans for accurate measurements of the theoretically clean branching ratios Br(K+ -> pi+ nu nu) and Br(KL -> pi0 nu nu), that should take place in the next decade, we collect the relevant formulae for quantities of interest and analyze their theoretical and parametric uncertainties. We point out that in addition to the angle beta in the unitarity triangle (UT) also the angle gamma can in principle be determined from these decays with respectable precision and emphasize in this context the importance of the recent NNLO QCD calculation of the charm contribution to K+ -> pi+ nu …
Hadron structure from high-Q^2 gamma^* p scattering processes is often expressed in terms of hadronic matrix elements of nonlocal operators. Properly defining and interpreting these quantities is very important in light of experiments aiming to extract transverse momentum dependent parton distributions or generalized parton distributions. The current status will be reviewed, including recent developments concerning Wigner distributions.
We review some new developments in the theoretical description of the processes K ->pi gamma gamma, K_L ->gamma l^+ l^-, K_L ->pi^0 e^+ e^- and K_L ->mu^+ mu^-.
We calculate the complete NNLO QCD corrections to the charm contribution of the rare decay K+ -> pi+ nu nu-bar. We encounter several new features, which were absent in lower orders. We discuss them in detail and present the results for the 2-loop matching conditions of the Wilson coefficients, the 3-loop anomalous dimensions, and the 2-loop matrix elements of the relevant operators that enter the NNLO renormalization group analysis of the Z-penguin and the electroweak box contribution. The inclusion of the NNLO QCD corrections leads to a significant reduction of the theoretical uncertainty fro…
High-energy gamma radiation in the Earth's atmosphere is associated with the bremsstrahlung of Relativistic Runaway Electron Avalanches (RREA) developing in thunderstorm electric fields. In this paper, RREA development is studied in the system of two strong electric-field regions within thunderstorms, which accelerate runaway electrons toward each other. Such a system is called the simple reactor. It is discovered that the propagation of gamma rays and runaway electrons from one region to another leads to positive feedback. This feedback called the reactor feedback can make RREA self-sustainin…
In this talk we cover several issues concerning pion production. The first one is the p p ----> p p pi^0 reaction where an alternative explanation based on the off shell extrapolation of the pi N amplitude is offered. A recent model for the gamma N ----> pi pi N reaction is presented and a new kind of exchange current is constructed from it which allows one to address problems like double Delta photoproduction from the deuteron. Finally the (gamma, pi pi) reaction in nuclei is studied and shown to be highly sensitive to the renormalization of the pions in nuclei.