To appear in the proceedings of 9th Workshop on Elementary Particle Theory: Loops and Legs in Quantum Field Theory, Sondershausen, Germany, 20-25 Apr 2008
The use of complex analysis for computing one-loop scattering amplitudes is naturally induced by generalised unitarity-cut conditions, fulfilled by complex values of the loop variable. We report on two techniques: the cut-integration with spinor-variables as contour integrals of rational functions; and the use of the Discrete Fourier Transform to optimize the reduction of tensor-integrals to master scalar integrals.
Reggeon cuts in QCD amplitudes with negative signature are discussed. These cuts appear in the next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic approximation (NNLLA) and greatly complicate the derivation of the BFKL equation. Feynman diagrams responsible for appearance of these cuts are indicated and the cut contributions are calculated in the two- and three-loop approximation.
We report on a technique for evaluating finite unitarity cut for one-loop amplitudes in gauge theories, and discuss its application to the cut-constructible part of six-gluon amplitude in QCD.
Elaborating on the observation that two-particle unitarity-cuts of scattering amplitudes can be computed by applying Stokes' Theorem, we relate the Optical Theorem to the Berry Phase, showing how the imaginary part of arbitrary one-loop Feynman amplitudes can be interpreted as the flux of a complex 2-form.
Two-particle unitarity-cuts of scattering amplitudes can be efficiently computed by applying Stokes' Theorem, in the fashion of the Generalised Cauchy Theorem. Consequently, the Optical Theorem can be related to the Berry Phase, showing how the imaginary part of arbitrary one-loop Feynman amplitudes can be interpreted as the flux of a complex 2-form.
We present an extension of the spinor integration formalism of one loop amplitudes from the double-cut to the single-cut case. This technique can be applied for the computation of the tadpole coefficients. Moreover we describe an off-shell continuation of one loop amplitudes that allows a finite evaluation of the unitarity cuts in the channel of a single massive external fermion.
We use the full multiple scattering expansion of the retarded self-energy to obtain the gain and loss rates present in the Kadanoff-Baym relativistic transport equation. The rates we obtain include processes with any number of particles. As a first approximation, we only consider central cuts in the self-energies, but otherwise our results are general. We specialize to the case of scalar field theory to compare with lowest order results. The main application of this work is relativistic transport theory of very dense systems, such as the quark-gluon plasma or the early universe, where multi-pa…
We present a method for the computation of hepta-cuts of two loop scattering amplitudes. Four dimensional unitarity cuts are used to factorise the integrand onto the product of six tree-level amplitudes evaluated at complex momentum values. Using Gram matrix constraints we derive a general parameterisation of the integrand which can be computed using polynomial fitting techniques. The resulting expression is further reduced to master integrals using conventional integration by parts methods. We consider both planar and non-planar topologies for 2 to 2 scattering processes and apply the method …
In this paper we propose a dispersive method to describe two-body scattering with unitarity imposed. This approach is applied to elastic $ππ$ scattering. The amplitudes keep single-channel unitarity and describe the experimental data well, and the low-energy amplitudes are consistent with that of chiral perturbation theory. The pole locations of the $σ$, $f_0(980)$, $ρ(770)$ and $f_2(1270)$ and their couplings to $ππ$ are obtained. A virtual state appearing in the isospin-two S-wave is confirmed. The correlations between the left (and right) hand cut and the poles are discussed. Our results sh…
We present an alternative reduction to master integrals for one-loop amplitudes using a unitarity cut method in arbitrary dimensions. We carry out the reduction in two steps. The first step is a pure four-dimensional cut-integration of tree amplitudes with a mass parameter, and the second step is applying dimensional shift identities to master integrals. This reduction is performed at the integrand level, so that coefficients can be read out algebraically.
We develop an iterative method for constructing four-dimensional generalized unitarity cuts in $\mathcal{N} = 2$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory coupled to fundamental matter hypermultiplets ($\mathcal{N} = 2$ SQCD). For iterated two-particle cuts,specifically those involving only four-point amplitudes, this implies simple diagrammatic rules for assembling the cuts to any loop order, reminiscent of the rung rule in $\mathcal{N} = 4$ SYM. By identifying physical poles, the construction simplifies the task of extracting complete integrands. In combination with the duality between color an…
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 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…
With nuclear targets comes a new scale into the pQCD description of hard processes - the saturation scale. In the saturation regime, the familiar linear k_\perp-factorization breaks down and must be replaced by a nonlinear k_\perp-factorization, which accounts for absorptive and multiple scattering corrections to the hard process. Predictions for partial cross sections corresponding to a fixed number of cut Pomerons (the topological cross sections) can be obtained in a surprisingly straightforward manner. We discuss some applications to deep inelastic scattering.
The success of the experimental program at the Tevatron re-inforced the idea that precision physics at hadron colliders is desirable and, indeed, possible. The Tevatron data strongly suggests that one-loop computations in QCD describe hard scattering well. Extrapolating this observation to the LHC, we conclude that knowledge of many short-distance processes at next-to-leading order may be required to describe the physics of hard scattering. While the field of one-loop computations is quite mature, parton multiplicities in hard LHC events are so high that traditional computational techniques be…
We present a preliminary study of both Single and Double Parton Scattering contributions to the inclusive 4-jet production in the kt-factorization framework at Leading Order and $E_{CM} = 7$ TeV. We compare our results to collinear results in the literature and to the ATLAS and CMS data at 8 and 7 TeV respectively. We also discuss the importance of double parton scattering for relatively soft cuts on the jet transverse momenta and find out that symmetric cuts do not quite suit well to kt-factorization predictions, because of a kinematic effect suppressing the double parton scattering contribut…
Among the unitarity cuts of 4-loop massless propagators two kinds are currently fully known: the 2-particle cuts with 3 loops corresponding to form-factors, and the 5-particle phase-space integrals. In this paper we calculate master integrals for the remaining ones: 3-particle cuts with 2 loops, and 4-particle cuts with 1 loop. The 4-particle cuts are calculated by solving dimensional recurrence relations. The 3-particle cuts are integrated directly using 1->3 amplitudes with 2 loops, which we also re-derive here up to transcendentality weight 7. The results are verified both numerically, and …
A unitary framework based on the Bakamjian-Thomas construction of relativistic quantum mechanics is used to describe two-pion scattering from threshold to 1400 MeV. The framework properly includes unitarity cuts for one-, two- and three-hadron states and provides an excellent description of the available data for pi pi phase shifts and inelasticities. The role and importance of three-hadron cuts are calculated and discussed.
We compute the integrand of the full-colour, two-loop, five-gluon scattering amplitude in pure Yang-Mills theory with all helicities positive, using generalized unitarity cuts. Tree-level BCJ relations, satisfied by amplitudes appearing in the cuts, allow us to deduce all the necessary non-planar information for the full-colour amplitude from known planar data. We present our result in terms of irreducible numerators, with colour factors derived from the multi-peripheral colour decomposition. Finally, the leading soft divergences are checked to reproduce the expected infrared behaviour.
We explain how one-loop amplitudes with massive fermions can be computed using only on-shell information. We first use the spinor-helicity formalism in six dimensions to perform generalised unitarity cuts in $d$ dimensions. We then show that divergent wavefunction cuts can be avoided, and the remaining ambiguities in the renormalised amplitudes can be fixed, by matching to universal infrared poles in $4-2ε$ dimensions and ultraviolet poles in $6-2ε$ dimensions. In the latter case we construct an effective Lagrangian in six dimensions and reduce the additional constraint to an on-shell tree-lev…
First order QCD and leading QED corrections to Higgs boson production in the channel $e^-p \to νH^0 X; H^0 \to b\bar{b}$ are calculated for the kinematical conditions at LEP $\otimes$ LHC ($\sqrt{s} = 1360 \GeV$) and the interesting mass range $80 < M_H < 150 \GeV$. In the DIS scheme the QCD corrections (not including the corrections to the branching ratio, which are well-known) are found to be about 1\% for the total cross section and $-13\%$ to $-10\%$ for the observable cross section as defined by appropriate cuts. The latter results depend on the definition of these cuts. The QED correctio…
Gravitational amplitudes in the Regge limit: waveforms, shock waves and unitarity cuts
INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati(意大利国家核物理研究所,弗拉斯cati国家实验室);Queen Mary University of London(伦敦大学玛丽女王学院);The University of Edinburgh(爱丁堡大学);Sapienza Università di Roma(罗马第一大学)
By exploiting relations between gravity and gauge theories, we present two infinite sequences of one-loop n-graviton scattering amplitudes: the `maximally helicity-violating' amplitudes in N=8 supergravity, and the `all-plus' helicity amplitudes in gravity with any minimally coupled massless matter content. The all-plus amplitudes correspond to self-dual field configurations and vanish in supersymmetric theories. We make use of the tree-level Kawai-Lewellen-Tye (KLT) relations between open and closed string theory amplitudes, which in the low-energy limit imply relations between gravity and ga…
We compute the next-to-maximally-helicity-violating one-loop n-gluon amplitudes in N=1 super-Yang-Mills theory. These amplitudes contain three negative-helicity gluons and an arbitrary number of positive-helicity gluons, and constitute the first infinite series of amplitudes beyond the simplest, MHV, amplitudes. We assemble ingredients from the N=4 NMHV tree super-amplitude into previously unwritten double cuts and use the spinor integration technique to calculate all bubble coefficients. We also derive the missing box coefficients from quadruple cuts. Together with the known formula for three…
We review techniques for more efficient computation of perturbative scattering amplitudes in gauge theory, in particular tree and one-loop multi-parton amplitudes in QCD. We emphasize the advantages of (1) using color and helicity information to decompose amplitudes into smaller gauge-invariant pieces, and (2) exploiting the analytic properties of these pieces, namely their cuts and poles. Other useful tools include recursion relations, special gauges and supersymmetric rearrangements.
We present an analytic technique for evaluating single cuts for one-loop integrands, where exactly one propagator is taken to be on shell. Our method extends the double-cut integration formalism of one-loop amplitudes to the single-cut case. We argue that single cuts give meaningful information about amplitudes when taken at the integrand level. We discuss applications to the computation of tadpole coefficients.
The pion - nucleon scattering phase shifts in $s$ and $p$ waves are analyzed using PKU unitarization approach that can separate the phase shifts into different contributions from poles and branch cuts. It is found that in $S_{11}$ and $P_{11}$ channels, there exist large and positive missing contributions when one compares the phase shift from known resonances plus branch cuts with the experimental data, which indicates that those two channels may contain sizable effects from $N^*(1535)$ and $N^*(1440)$ shadow poles. Those results are obtained using tree level results of the $πN$ amplitude.
We review recent progress in D-dimensional integrand reduction algorithms for two loop amplitudes and give examples of their application to non-planar maximal cuts of the five-point all-plus helicity amplitude in QCD.
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…
We perform a first study of 4-jet production in a complete high-energy factorization (HEF) framework. We include and discuss contributions from both single-parton scattering (SPS) and double-parton scattering (DPS). The calculations are performed for kinematical situations relevant for two experimental measurements (ATLAS and CMS) at the LHC. We compare our results to those reported by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations for different sets of kinematical cuts. The results of the HEF approach are compared with their counterparts for collinear factorization. For symmetric cuts the DPS HEF result is…
The $S$- and $P$- wave phase shifts of low-energy pion-nucleon scatterings are analysed using Peking University representation, in which they are decomposed into various terms contributing either from poles or branch cuts. We estimate the left-hand cut contributions with the help of tree-level perturbative amplitudes derived in relativistic baryon chiral perturbation theory up to $\mathcal{O}(p^2)$. It is found that in $S_{11}$ and $P_{11}$ channels, contributions from known resonances and cuts are far from enough to saturate experimental phase shift data -- strongly indicating contributions f…
In this paper we perform an amplitude analysis of $η'\toπ^+π^-γ$ and confront it with the latest BESIII data. Based on the final-state interaction theorem, we represent the amplitude in terms of an Omnés function multiplied by a form factor that corresponds to the contributions from left-hand cuts and right-hand cuts in the inelastic channels. We also take into account the isospin violation effect induced by $ρ-ω$ mixing. Our results show that the anomaly contribution is mandatory in order to explain the data. Its contribution to the decay width of $Γ(η'\toππγ)$ is larger than that induced by …
We illustrate the use of new on-shell methods, 4-dimensional unitarity cuts combined with on-shell recursions relations, by computing the A_4^{(1)}(phi,1^-,2^-,3^+,4^+) amplitude in the large top mass limit where the Higgs boson couples to gluons through an effective interaction.
We obtain the two-loop QCD corrections to the Higgs plus three-parton amplitudes with dimension-seven operators in Higgs effective field theory. This provides the two-loop S-matrix elements for Higgs plus one-jet production at the LHC with top-mass correction. We apply efficient unitarity plus IBP methods which are described in detail. We also study the color decomposition of the fermion cuts and find a connection between fundamental and adjoint representations which can be used to reduce non-planar to planar unitarity cuts in the Higgs to three-gluon amplitudes. We obtain final results in sim…
We present an algorithm for the integrand-level reduction of multi-loop amplitudes of renormalizable field theories, based on computational algebraic geometry. This algorithm uses (1) the Gröbner basis method to determine the basis for integrand-level reduction, (2) the primary decomposition of an ideal to classify all inequivalent solutions of unitarity cuts. The resulting basis and cut solutions can be used to reconstruct the integrand from unitarity cuts, via polynomial fitting techniques. The basis determination part of the algorithm has been implemented in the Mathematica package, BasisDe…
We present a prescription to calculate manifestly gauge invariant tree-level scattering amplitudes for arbitrary scattering processes with off-shell initial-state quarks within the kinematics of high-energy scattering.
General equations for the calculation of amplitudes are presented. As an illustration of application of proposed formulae we calculate electron-electron scattering amplitudes.
We present analytical results for all six-photon helicity amplitudes. For the computation of this loop induced process two recently developed methods, based on form factor decomposition and on multiple cuts, have been used. We obtain compact results, demonstrating the applicability of both methods to one-loop amplitudes relevant to precision collider phenomenology.
When scattering amplitudes are calculated in the double-logarithmic approximation, it is possible to relate the double-logarithmic on-shell and off-shell amplitudes. Explicit relations are obtained for scattering amplitudes in QED, QCD, and the ElectroWeak Standard Model. The off-shell amplitudes are considered in the hard and the Regge kinematic limits. We compare our results in both the Feynman and Coulomb gauges.
We consider the effects of the deuteron spin rotation and oscillations at the matter which is proportional to the real part of the deuteron spin-dependent forward scattering amplitude. That gives a possibility of a direct measurement of this quantity. Spin-dependent forward scattering amplitude of the deuteron on an unpolarized proton is discussed in terms of the Glauber multiscattering theory. This amplitude is determined by the nucleon rescattering, nonsphericity of the deuteron and spin-dependent nucleon-nucleon scattering amplitude. Thus deuteron spin oscillation phenomenon represents a me…
The fragmentation functions and scattering amplitudes are investigated in the framework of light-front perturbation theory. It is demonstrated that, the factorization property of the fragmentation functions implies the recursion relations for the off-shell scattering amplitudes which are light-front analogs of the Berends-Giele relations. These recursion relations on the light-front can be solved exactly by induction and it is shown that the expressions for the off-shell light-front amplitudes are represented as a linear combinations of the on-shell amplitudes. By putting external particles on…
We present a simple set of rules for obtaining the imaginary part of a self energy diagram at finite temperature in terms of diagrams that correspond to physical scattering amplitudes.
Elastic $pp$ scattering at LHC energies is treated in Additive Quark Model together with Pomeron exchange theory. The obtained results are compared with the new experimental data on the ratio of real to imaginary part of the scattering amplitude at the small transverse momenta
We asses a role of the double helicity-flip amplitudes in small-angle elastic pp-scattering and obtain a new unitary bound for the double helicity-flip amplitude F_2 in elastic pp-scattering at small values of t on the basis of the U-matrix method of the s-channel unitarization.
In theories with unstable particles, unitarity is satisfied by the inclusion of only stable states in unitarity sums. Hence unitarity cuts are not to be taken through unstable particles. This raises a challenge to the generalized unitarity method, whose aim is to reconstruct amplitudes by analyzing sets of unitarity cuts. Nevertheless, under some general physical conditions, and perhaps some methodological modifications, we prove that the method is still reliable for one-loop amplitudes containing resonances. We discuss some simple examples which illustrate these features.
The most general structure of an elastic partial wave amplitude when the unphysical cuts are neglected is deduced in terms of the N/D method. This result is then matched to lowest order, ${\mathcal{O}}(p^2)$, Chiral Perturbation Theory($χ$PT) and to the exchange (consistent with chiral symmetry) of resonances in the s-channel. The extension of the method to coupled channels is also given. Making use of the former formalism, the $ππ$ and $Kπ$(I=1/2) P-wave scattering amplitudes are described without free parameters when taking into account relations coming from the 1/$N_c$ expansion and unitari…
In this letter, we exploit generalised unitarity in order to calculate the cut-constructible part of one-loop amplitudes in non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. In particular, we rederive the n-gluon MHV amplitudes for both the adjacent and non-adjacent gluon helicity configurations from 3- and 4-particle cuts alone.
The $N/D$ method is used to study the $S_{11}$ channel low energy $πN$ scattering amplitude. The input of left cuts are obtained from various phenomenological models. With the aid of the production representation, the total phase shifts can be decomposed into different contributions, and it further reveals that the existence of subthreshold resonance $N^*(890)$ doesn't depend on the details of the dynamical input. Additionally, it is found that there exist virtual states in partial waves, which are induced by the $u$ channel nucleon exchanges. These virtual states accumulate at the end point o…
Scenario for restoration of the real part of the elastic scattering amplitude has been proposed for the unitarity saturation case. Dependence of the real part of the elastic scattering amplitude on the transferred momentum $-t$ at the asymptotical energies has been restored from the corresponding imaginary part on the basis of derivative analyticity relations (analytization procedure).
This article reviews on-shell methods for analytic computation of loop amplitudes, emphasizing techniques based on unitarity cuts. Unitarity techniques are formulated generally but have been especially useful for calculating one-loop amplitudes in massless theories such as Yang-Mills theory, QCD, and QED.
A simple algorithm is presented to decompose any 1-loop amplitude for scattering processes of the class 2 fermions -> 4 fermions into a fixed number of gauge-invariant form factors. The structure of the amplitude is simpler than in the conventional approaches and its numerical evaluation is made faster. The algorithm can be efficiently applied also to amplitudes with several thousands of Feynman diagrams.
We prove the general theorem that the real part of the forward two-body scattering amplitude is positive at sufficiently high energies if, above a certain energy, the total cross section increases monotonically to infinity at infinite energy.
A prescription is presented to construct manifestly gauge invariant tree-level scattering amplitudes with one or two off-shell initial-state gluons for processes with arbitrary particles in the final state, which allows for calculations that are efficient and easy to automate. These scattering amplitudes are relevant for factorization schemes beyond collinear factorization that allow the gluons entering the partonic cross section to have non-vanishing transversal momentum components.
A behavior of imaginary and real parts of the high-energy elastic hadron scattering amplitude is examined in the diffraction region. It is shown that the interference between Coulomb and hadronic scattering at small momentum transfers and especially in the region of diffractive minimum can bring some information about the structure of the hadron spin-non-flip amplitude.
We review some recent additions to the tool-chest of techniques for finding compact integrand representations of multiloop gauge-theory amplitudes - including non-planar contributions - applicable for N=4 super-Yang-Mills in four and higher dimensions, as well as for theories with less supersymmetry. We discuss a general organization of amplitudes in terms of purely cubic graphs, review the method of maximal cuts, as well as some special D-dimensional recursive cuts, and conclude by describing the efficient organization of amplitudes resulting from the conjectured duality between color and kin…