We consider the infinite family of Feynman graphs known as the "banana graphs" and compute explicitly the classes of the corresponding graph hypersurfaces in the Grothendieck ring of varieties as well as their Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes, using the classical Cremona transformation and the dual graph, and a blowup formula for characteristic classes. We outline the interesting similarities between these operations and we give formulae for cones obtained by simple operations on graphs. We formulate a positivity conjecture for characteristic classes of graph hypersurfaces and discuss briefly the effect of passing to noncommutative spacetime.
Certain Feynman integrals are associated to Calabi-Yau geometries. We demonstrate how these integrals can be computed with the method of differential equations. The four-loop equal-mass banana integral is the simplest Feynman integral whose geometry is a non-trivial Calabi-Yau manifold. We show that its differential equation can be cast into an $\varepsilon$-factorised form. This allows us to obtain the solution to any desired order in the dimensional regularisation parameter $\varepsilon$. The method generalises to other Calabi-Yau Feynman integrals. Our calculation also shows that the four-l…
We provide a comprehensive summary of concepts from Calabi-Yau motives relevant to the computation of multi-loop Feynman integrals. From this we derive several consequences for multi-loop integrals in general, and we illustrate them on the example of multi-loop banana integrals. For example, we show how Griffiths transversality, known from the theory of variation of mixed Hodge structures, leads quite generically to a set of quadratic relations among maximal cut integrals associated to Calabi-Yau motives. These quadratic relations then naturally lead to a compact expression for $l$-loop banana…
We formulate the problem of renormalization of Feynman integrals and its relation to periods of motives in configuration space instead of momentum space. The algebro-geometric setting is provided by the wonderful compactifications of arrangements of subvarieties associated to the subgraphs of a Feynman graph and a (quasi)projective variety. The motive and the class in the Grothendieck ring are computed explicitly for these wonderful compactifications, in terms of the motive of the variety and the combinatorics of the Feynman graph, using recent results of Li Li. The pullback to the wonderful c…
We consider the calculation of the master integrals of the three-loop massive banana graph. In the case of equal internal masses, the graph is reduced to three master integrals which satisfy an irreducible system of three coupled linear differential equations. The solution of the system requires finding a $3 \times 3$ matrix of homogeneous solutions. We show how the maximal cut can be used to determine all entries of this matrix in terms of products of elliptic integrals of first and second kind of suitable arguments. All independent solutions are found by performing the integration which defi…
This article gives a short step-by-step introduction to the representation of parametric Feynman integrals in scalar perturbative quantum field theory as periods of motives. The application of motivic Galois theory to the algebro-geometric and categorical structures underlying Feynman graphs is reviewed up to the current state of research. The example of primitive log-divergent Feynman graphs in scalar massless $ϕ^4$ quantum field theory is analysed in detail.
We outline ideas to connect the analytic structure of Feynman amplitudes to the structure of Karen Vogtmann's {\em Outer Space}. We focus on the role of cubical chain complexes in this context, and also investigate the bordification problem in the example of the 3-edge banana graph.
Following the work of Brown, we can canonically associate a family of motivic periods -- called the motivic Feynman amplitude -- to any convergent Feynman integral, viewed as a function of the kinematic variables. The motivic Galois theory of motivic Feynman amplitudes provides an organizing principle, as well as strong constraints, on the space of amplitudes in general, via Brown's "small graphs principle". This serves as motivation for explicitly computing the motivic Galois action, or, dually, the coaction of the Hopf algebra of functions on the motivic Galois group. In this paper, we study…
Resonance and Differential Reduction of Feynman Integrals
School of Mathematics and Hamilton Mathematics Institute, Trinity College（三一学院数学与汉密尔顿数学研究所）；Institute for Theoretical Physics, Utrecht University（乌得勒支大学理论物理研究所）；Center of Mathematical Sciences and Applications Harvard University（哈佛大学数学科学与应用中心）；Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University（哈佛大学杰斐逊物理实验室）
We study the geometry and Hodge theory of the cubic hypersurfaces attached to two-loop Feynman integrals for generic physical parameters. We show that the Hodge structure attached to planar two-loop Feynman graphs decomposes into mixed Tate pieces and the Hodge structures of families of hyperelliptic, elliptic, or rational curves depending on the space-time dimension. For two-loop graphs with a small number of edges, we give more precise results. In particular, we recover a result of Bloch arXiv:2105.06132 that in the well-known double box example, there is an underlying family of elliptic cur…
