Phase space cuts are implemented by inserting Heaviside theta functions in the integrands of momentum-space Feynman integrals. By directly parametrizing theta functions and constructing integration-by-parts (IBP) identities in the parametric representation, we provide a systematic method to reduce integrals with cuts. Since the IBP method is available, it becomes possible to evaluate integrals with cuts by constructing and solving differential equations.
We develop techniques for computing and analyzing multiple unitarity cuts of Feynman integrals, and reconstructing the integral from these cuts. We study the relations among unitarity cuts of a Feynman integral computed via diagrammatic cutting rules, the discontinuity across the corresponding branch cut, and the coproduct of the integral. For single unitarity cuts, these relations are familiar. Here we show that they can be generalized to sequences of unitarity cuts in different channels. Using concrete one- and two-loop scalar integral examples we demonstrate that it is possible to reconstru…
Based on the Baikov representation, we present a systematic approach to compute cuts of Feynman Integrals, appropriately defined in $d$ dimensions. The information provided by these computations may be used to determine the class of functions needed to analytically express the full integrals.
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…
The ASPIRE program, which is based on the Landau singularities and the method of power geometry to unveil the regions required for the evaluation of a given Feynman diagram asymptotically in a given limit, also allows for the evaluation of scaling coming from the top facets. In this work, we relate the scaling having equal components of the top facets of the Newton polytope to the maximal cut of given Feynman integrals. We have therefore connected two independent approaches to the analysis of Feynman diagrams.
On the spanning cuts consistency problem in the IBP reductions of Feynman integrals
State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Institute of Quantum Matter, South China Normal University（华南师范大学量子物质研究所核物理与技术国家重点实验室）；Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Structure and Fundamental Interactions of Matter, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nuclear Science（广东省核科学重点实验室结构及基本相互作用卓越基础研究中心）；Institute for Theoretical Particle Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)（卡尔斯鲁厄理工学院理论粒子物理研究所）
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.
In this paper, the reduction of Feynman integrals in the parametric representation is considered. This method proves to be more efficient than the integration-by-part (IBP) method in the momentum space. Tensor integrals can directly be parametrized without performing tensor reductions. The integrands of parametric integrals are functions of Lorentz scalars, instead of four momenta. The complexity of a calculation is determined by the number of propagators that are present rather than the number of all the linearly independent propagators. Furthermore, the symmetries of Feynman integrals under …
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.
In a recent paper by the author (Chen in JHEP 02:115, 2020), the reduction of Feynman integrals in the parametric representation was considered. Tensor integrals were directly parametrized by using a generator method. The resulting parametric integrals were reduced by constructing and solving parametric integration-by-parts (IBP) identities. In this paper, we furthermore show that polynomial equations for the operators that generate tensor integrals can be derived. Based on these equations, two methods to reduce tensor integrals are developed. In the first method, by introducing some auxiliary…
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…
We elaborate on the recent idea of a direct decomposition of Feynman integrals onto a basis of master integrals on maximal cuts using intersection numbers. We begin by showing an application of the method to the derivation of contiguity relations for special functions, such as the Euler beta function, the Gauss ${}_2F_1$ hypergeometric function, and the Appell $F_1$ function. Then, we apply the new method to decompose Feynman integrals whose maximal cuts admit 1-form integral representations, including examples that have from two to an arbitrary number of loops, and/or from zero to an arbitrar…
We discuss dispersion representations for the triangle diagram $F(p_1^2,p_2^2,q^2)$, the single dispersion representation in $q^2$ and the double dispersion representation in $p_1^2$ and $p_2^2$, with special emphasis on the appearance of the anomalous singularities and the anomalous cuts in these representations.
Starting from two-loops, there are Feynman integrals with higher powers of the propagators. They arise from self-energy insertions on internal lines. Within the loop-tree duality approach or within methods based on numerical unitarity one needs (among other things) the residue when a raised propagator goes on-shell. We show that for renormalised quantities in the on-shell scheme these residues can be made to vanish already at the integrand level.
Using the multivariate residue calculus of Leray, we give a precise definition of the notion of a cut Feynman integral in dimensional regularization, as a residue evaluated on the variety where some of the propagators are put on shell. These are naturally associated to Landau singularities of the first type. Focusing on the one-loop case, we give an explicit parametrization to compute such cut integrals, with which we study some of their properties and list explicit results for maximal and next-to-maximal cuts. By analyzing homology groups, we show that cut integrals associated to Landau singu…
We construct a diagrammatic coaction acting on one-loop Feynman graphs and their cuts. The graphs are naturally identified with the corresponding (cut) Feynman integrals in dimensional regularization, whose coefficients of the Laurent expansion in the dimensional regulator are multiple polylogarithms (MPLs). Our main result is the conjecture that this diagrammatic coaction reproduces the combinatorics of the coaction on MPLs order by order in the Laurent expansion. We show that our conjecture holds in a broad range of nontrivial one-loop integrals. We then explore its consequences for the stud…
We develop a general framework for the evaluation of $d$-dimensional cut Feynman integrals based on the Baikov-Lee representation of purely-virtual Feynman integrals. We implement the generalized Cutkosky cutting rule using Cauchy's residue theorem and identify a set of constraints which determine the integration domain. The method applies equally well to Feynman integrals with a unitarity cut in a single kinematic channel and to maximally-cut Feynman integrals. Our cut Baikov-Lee representation reproduces the expected relation between cuts and discontinuities in a given kinematic channel and …
We study the symbology of planar Feynman integrals in dimensional regularization by considering geometric configurations in momentum twistor space corresponding to their leading singularities (LS). Cutting propagators in momentum twistor space amounts to intersecting lines associated with loop and external dual momenta, including the special line associated with the point at infinity, which breaks dual conformal symmetry. We show that cross-ratios of intersection points on these lines, especially those on the infinity line, naturally produce symbol letters for Feynman integrals in $D=4-2ε$, wh…
We develop a systematic procedure for computing maximal unitarity cuts of multiloop Feynman integrals in arbitrary dimension. Our approach is based on the Baikov representation in which the structure of the cuts is particularly simple. We examine several planar and nonplanar integral topologies and demonstrate that the maximal cut inherits IBPs and dimension shift identities satisfied by the uncut integral. Furthermore, for the examples we calculated, we find that the maximal cut functions from different allowed regions, form the Wronskian matrix of the differential equations on the maximal cu…
We discuss the duality theorem, which provides a relation between loop integrals and phase space integrals. We rederive the duality relation for the one-loop case and extend it to two and higher-order loops. We explicitly show its application to two- and three-loop scalar master integrals and discuss the structure of the occurring cuts.
I analyze the algebraic patterns underlying the structure of scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory. I focus on the decomposition of amplitudes in terms of independent functions and the systems of differential equations the latter obey. In particular, I discuss the key role played by unitarity for the decomposition in terms of master integrals, by means of generalized cuts and integrand reduction, as well as for solving the corresponding differential equations, by means of Magnus exponential series.
We study the algebraic and analytic structure of Feynman integrals by proposing an operation that maps an integral into pairs of integrals obtained from a master integrand and a corresponding master contour. This operation is a coaction. It reduces to the known coaction on multiple polylogarithms, but applies more generally, e.g. to hypergeometric functions. The coaction also applies to generic one-loop Feynman integrals with any configuration of internal and external masses, and in dimensional regularization. In this case, we demonstrate that it can be given a diagrammatic representation pure…
Relations between multiple unitarity cuts and coproducts of Feynman integrals are extended to allow for internal masses. These masses introduce new branch cuts, whose discontinuities can be derived by placing single propagators on shell and identified as particular entries of the coproduct. First entries of the coproduct are then seen to include mass invariants alone, as well as threshold corrections for external momentum channels. As in the massless case, the original integral can possibly be recovered from its cuts by starting with the known part of the coproduct and imposing integrability c…
In this talk we discuss Feynman integrals which are related to elliptic curves. We show with the help of an explicit example that in the set of master integrals more than one elliptic curve may occur. The technique of maximal cuts is a useful tool to identify the elliptic curves. By a suitable transformation of the master integrals the system of differential equations for our example can be brought into a form linear in $\varepsilon$, where the $\varepsilon^0$-term is strictly lower-triangular. This system is easily solved in terms of iterated integrals.
In this paper, we present the universal structure of the alphabet of one-loop Feynman integrals. The letters in the alphabet are calculated using the Baikov representation with cuts. We consider both convergent and divergent cut integrals and observe that letters in the divergent cases can be easily obtained from convergent cases by applying certain limits. The letters are written as simple expressions in terms of various Gram determinants. The knowledge of the alphabet enables us to easily construct the canonical differential equations of the $ d\log $ form and aids in bootstrapping the symbo…
A new method of divergence subtraction in Feynman parametric integrals is presented. The method is suitable for calculating the lepton anomalous magnetic moments (AMM) in quantum electrodynamics (QED). The subtraction procedure eliminates all divergences before integration and leads to a finite Feynman parametric integral for each individual Feynman diagram. It is based on a forest formula with linear operators applied to the Feynman amplitudes of ultraviolet-divergent subdiagrams. The formula is similar to BPHZ; the difference is only in the linear operators used and in the way of combining t…
We present a new formula for the coaction of a large class of integrals. When applied to one-loop (cut) Feynman integrals, it can be given a diagrammatic representation purely in terms of pinches and cuts of the edges of the graph. The coaction encodes the algebraic structure of these integrals, and offers ways to extract important properties of complicated integrals from simpler functions. In particular, it gives direct access to discontinuities of Feynman integrals and facilitates a straightforward derivation of the differential equations they satisfy, which we illustrate in the case of the …
We study the problem of solving integration-by-parts recurrence relations for a given class of Feynman integrals which is characterized by an arbitrary polynomial in the numerator and arbitrary integer powers of propagators, {\it i.e.}, the problem of expressing any Feynman integral from this class as a linear combination of master integrals. We show how the parametric representation invented by Baikov can be used to characterize the master integrals and to construct an algorithm for evaluating the corresponding coefficient functions. To illustrate this procedure we use simple one-loop example…
We present a detailed description of the recent idea for a direct decomposition of Feynman integrals onto a basis of master integrals by projections, as well as a direct derivation of the differential equations satisfied by the master integrals, employing multivariate intersection numbers. We discuss a recursive algorithm for the computation of multivariate intersection numbers and provide three different approaches for a direct decomposition of Feynman integrals, which we dub the straight decomposition, the bottom-up decomposition, and the top-down decomposition. These algorithms exploit the …
Two-loop corrections to scattering amplitudes are crucial theoretical input for collider physics. Recent years have seen tremendous advances in computing Feynman integrals, scattering amplitudes, and cross sections for five-particle processes. In this paper, we initiate the study of the function space for planar two-loop six-particle processes. We study all genuine six-particle Feynman integrals, and derive the differential equations they satisfy on maximal cuts. Performing a leading singularity analysis in momentum space, and in Baikov representation, we find an integral basis that puts the d…
An algorithm for the reduction of massive Feynman integrals with any number of loops and external momenta to a minimal set of basic integrals is proposed. The method is based on the new algorithm for evaluating tensor integrals, representation of generalized recurrence relations for a given kind of integrals as a linear system of PDEs and the reduction of this system to a standard form using algorithms proposed by G. Reid. Basic integrals reveal as parametric derivatives of the system in the standard form and the number of basic integrals in the minimal set is determined by the dimension of th…
A new subtraction procedure for removal both ultraviolet and infrared divergences in Feynman integrals is proposed. This method is developed for computation of QED corrections to the electron anomalous magnetic moment. The procedure is formulated in the form of a forest formula with linear operators that are applied to Feynman amplitudes of UV-divergent subgraphs. The contribution of each Feynman graph that contains propagators of electrons and photons is represented as a finite Feynman-parametric integral. Application of the developed method to the calculation of 2-loop and 3-loop contributio…
We derive useful reduction formulae which express one-loop Feynman integrals with a large number of external momenta in terms of lower-point integrals carrying easily derivable kinematic coefficients which are symmetric in the external momenta. These formulae apply for integrals with at least two more external legs than the dimension of the external momenta, and are presented in terms of two possible bases: one composed of a subset of descendant integrals with one fewer external legs, the other composed of the complete set of minimally-descendant integrals with just one more leg than the dimen…
The diagrammatic coaction underpins the analytic structure of Feynman integrals, their cuts and the differential equations they admit. The coaction maps any diagram into a tensor product of its pinches and cuts. These correspond respectively to differential forms defining master integrals, and integration contours which place a subset of the propagators on shell. In a canonical basis these forms and contours are dual to each other. In this talk I review our present understanding of this algebraic structure and its manifestation for dimensionally-regularized Feynman integrals that are expandabl…
For any given Feynman graph, the set of integrals with all possible powers of the propagators spans a vector space of finite dimension. We introduce the package {\sc Azurite} ({\bf A ZUR}ich-bred method for finding master {\bf I}n{\bf TE}grals), which efficiently finds a basis of this vector space. It constructs the needed integration-by-parts (IBP) identities on a set of generalized-unitarity cuts. It is based on syzygy computations and analyses of the symmetries of the involved Feynman diagrams and is powered by the computer algebra systems {\sc Singular} and {\sc Mathematica}. It can moreov…
We derive a duality relation between one-loop integrals and phase-space integrals emerging from them through single cuts. The duality relation is realized by a modification of the customary +i0 prescription of the Feynman propagators. The new prescription regularizing the propagators, which we write in a Lorentz covariant form, compensates for the absence of multiple-cut contributions that appear in the Feynman Tree Theorem. The duality relation can be applied to generic one-loop quantities in any relativistic, local and unitary field theories. %It is suitable for applications to the analytica…
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 introduce the tools of intersection theory to the study of Feynman integrals, which allows for a new way of projecting integrals onto a basis. In order to illustrate this technique, we consider the Baikov representation of maximal cuts in arbitrary space-time dimension. We introduce a minimal basis of differential forms with logarithmic singularities on the boundaries of the corresponding integration cycles. We give an algorithm for computing a basis decomposition of an arbitrary maximal cut using so-called intersection numbers and describe two alternative ways of computing them. Furthermor…
Scattering amplitudes at loop level can be reduced to a basis of linearly independent Feynman integrals. The integral coefficients are extracted from generalized unitarity cuts which define algebraic varieties. The topology of an algebraic variety characterizes the difficulty of applying maximal cuts. In this work, we analyze a novel class of integrals whose maximal cuts give rise to an algebraic variety with irrational irreducible components. As a phenomenologically relevant example we examine the two-loop planar double-box contribution with internal massive lines. We derive unique projectors…
We define linearly reducible elliptic Feynman integrals, and we show that they can be algorithmically solved up to arbitrary order of the dimensional regulator in terms of a 1-dimensional integral over a polylogarithmic integrand, which we call the inner polylogarithmic part (IPP). The solution is obtained by direct integration of the Feynman parametric representation. When the IPP depends on one elliptic curve (and no other algebraic functions), this class of Feynman integrals can be algorithmically solved in terms of elliptic multiple polylogarithms (eMPLs) by using integration by parts iden…
The method of using Hopf algebras for calculating Feynman integrals developed by Abreu et al. is applied to the two-loop non-planar on-shell diagram with massless propagators and three external mass scales. We show that the existence of the method of cut Feynman diagrams comprising of the coproduct, the first entry condition and integrability condition that was found to be true for the planar case also holds for the non-planar case; furthermore, the non-planar symbol alphabet is the same as for the planar case. This is one of the main results of this work, and they have been obtained by a syst…
The program FIESTA has been completely rewritten. Now it can be used not only as a tool to evaluate Feynman integrals numerically, but also to expand Feynman integrals automatically in limits of momenta and masses with the use of sector decompositions and Mellin-Barnes representations. Other important improvements to the code are complete parallelization (even to multiple computers), high-precision arithmetics (allowing to calculate integrals which were undoable before), new integrators and Speer sectors as a strategy, the possibility to evaluate more general parametric integrals.
Starting from the parametric representation of a Feynman diagram, we obtain it's well defined value in dimensional regularisation by changing the integrals over parameters into contour integrals. That way we eventually arrive at a representation consisting of well-defined compact integrals. The result is a simple transformation of the integrand which gives the analytic continuation of a wide class of Feynmanintegrals. The algorithm will especially be fit for numerical calculation of general massive multi-loop integrals. An important advantage of this method is that it allows us to calculate bo…
A direct link between a one-loop N-point Feynman diagram and a geometrical representation based on the N-dimensional simplex is established by relating the Feynman parametric representations to the integrals over contents of (N-1)-dimensional simplices in non-Euclidean geometry of constant curvature. In particular, the four-point function in four dimensions is proportional to the volume of a three-dimensional spherical (or hyperbolic) tetrahedron which can be calculated by splitting into birectangular ones. It is also shown that the known formula of reduction of the N-point function in (N-1) d…
Joint Institute for Nuclear Research（联合核研究所）；D. V. Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University（莫斯科国立大学 D.V. 斯科别尔钦核物理研究所）；Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna（维也纳大学物理学院）；INFN, Roma Tre（罗马第三大学意大利国家核物理研究所）
We present a new FORM program for analytically evaluating four-loop massless propagator-type Feynman integrals in an efficient way. Our program Forcer implements parametric reductions of the aforementioned class of Feynman integrals into a set of master integrals and can be considered as a four-loop extension of the three-loop Mincer program. Since the program structure at the four-loop level is highly complicated and the equations easily become lengthy, most of the code was generated in an automatic way or with computer-assisted derivations. We have checked correctness of the program by recom…
We present a new method for the momentum expansion of Feynman integrals with arbitrary masses and any number of loops and external momenta. By using the parametric representation we derive a generating function for the coefficients of the small momentum expansion of an arbitrary diagram. The method is applicable for the expansion w.r.t. all or a subset of external momenta. The coefficients of the expansion are obtained by applying a differential operator to a given integral with shifted value of the space-time dimension $d$ and the expansion momenta set equal to zero. Integrals with changed $d…
We show that the Lee-Pomeransky parametric representation of Feynman integrals can be understood as a solution of a certain Gel'fand-Kapranov-Zelevinsky (GKZ) system. In order to define such GKZ system, we consider the polynomial obtained from the Symanzik polynomials $g=\mathcal{U}+\mathcal{F}$ as having indeterminate coefficients. Noncompact integration cycles can be determined from the coamoeba---the argument mapping---of the algebraic variety associated with $g$. In general, we add a deformation to $g$ in order to define integrals of generic graphs as linear combinations of their canonical…
The duality relation between one-loop integrals and phase-space integrals, developed in a previous work, is extended to higher-order loops. The duality relation is realized by a modification of the customary +i0 prescription of the Feynman propagators, which compensates for the absence of the multiple-cut contributions that appear in the Feynman tree theorem. We rederive the duality theorem at one-loop order in a form that is more suitable for its iterative extension to higher-loop orders. We explicitly show its application to two- and three-loop scalar master integrals, and we discuss the str…
