<p>The study of collinear behavior for gauge theories in the spacelike region is of great phenomenological and theoretical importance. We analytically calculate the two-loop spacelike splitting amplitude for the full color <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi mathvariant="script">N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>4</mn></mrow></math> super-Yang-Mills theory. The result is derived by two complementary methods starting from the known amplitude: one is based on a discontinuity analysis, while the other one is based on calculating Feynman integrals analytically in the collinear limit. Our result explicitly shows terms that violate naive factorization. However we show that factorization is restored at the level of color-summed unpolarized squared amplitudes at next-to-next-to-next-to leading order. We conjecture that the two-loop tripole terms in the generalized splitting amplitudes in quantum chromodynamics are identical to what we obtain in <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mi mathvariant="script">N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>4</mn></math> super Yang-Mills theory.</p>

Germany

Johannes Henn

China

Rourou Ma

Yongqun Xu

Kai Yan

Yang Zhang

Hua Xing Zhu

Two-loop spacelike splitting amplitude for <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mrow><mi mathvariant="script">N</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>4</mn></mrow></math> Super-Yang-Mills theory

In this work, we compute the two-loop result of the null hexagonal Wilson loop with a Lagrangian insertion in planar, maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory via a bootstrap approach. Normalized by the null polygonal Wilson loop itself, the integrand-level result of this observable corresponds to the logarithm of the six-point three-loop amplitude in this theory, while its integrated result is conjectured to match the maximally transcendental part of the six-point three-loop all-plus amplitude in pure Yang-Mills theory. Our work builds on two recent advances. On the one hand, the set of leading singularities relevant to this observable was recently classified. On the other hand, the relevant space of special functions that may in principle accompany these leading singularities was determined at two loops and for six particles by a dedicated Feynman integral calculation. These two ingredients serve as the foundation of our bootstrap ansatz. We fix all indeterminates in this ansatz by imposing physical constraints, such as symmetries, absence of spurious divergences, and correct behavior in soft and collinear limits. Finally, we discuss and verify certain physical properties of our symbol result, including physical singularities, behavior under multi-Regge limit, as well as Steinmann relations between symbol entries. The latter relations are motivated by the correspondence to all-plus amplitudes in pure Yang-Mills theory, and successfully checking them constitutes a consistency check of this conjectured correspondence.

Sérgio Carrôlo

France

Dmitry Chicherin

Qinglin Yang

Hexagonal Wilson loop with Lagrangian insertion at two loops in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 super Yang-Mills theory

<p>We derive the full system of canonical differential equations for all planar two-loop massless six-particle master integrals and determine analytically the boundary conditions. This fully specifies the solutions, which may be written as Chen iterated integrals. We argue that this is sufficient information for evaluating any scattering amplitude in four dimensions up to the finite part. We support this claim by reducing, for the most complicated integral topologies, integrals with typical Yang-Mills numerators. We use the analytic solutions to the differential equations, together with dihedral symmetry, to provide the full solution space relevant for two-loop six-particle computations. This includes the relevant function alphabet, as well as the independent set of iterated integrals up to weight four. We also provide the answer for all master integrals in terms of iterated integrals that can be readily evaluated numerically. As a proof of concept, we provide a numerical implementation that evaluates the integrals in part of the Euclidean region and validate this against numerical evaluation of the Feynman integrals. Our result removes the bottleneck of the Feynman integral evaluation, paving the way for future analytic evaluations of six-particle scattering amplitudes.</p>

Antonela Matijašić

Julian Miczajka

Italy

Tiziano Peraro

Yingxuan Xu

Complete Function Space for Planar Two-Loop Six-Particle Scattering Amplitudes

We investigate positivity properties in quantum field theory (QFT). We provide evidence, and in some case proofs, that many building blocks of scattering amplitudes, and in some cases the full amplitudes, satisfy an infinite number of positivity conditions: the functions, as well as all their signed derivatives, are non-negative in a specified kinematic region. Such functions are known as completely monotonic (CM) in the mathematics literature. A powerful way to certify complete monotonicity is via integral representations. We thus show that it applies to planar and non-planar Feynman integrals possessing a Euclidean region, as well as to certain Euler integrals relevant to cosmological correlators and stringy integrals. This implies in particular that many basic building blocks appearing in perturbation theory, such as master integrals, can be chosen to be completely monotone. We also discuss two pathways for showing complete monotonicity for full amplitudes. One is related to properties of the analytic S-matrix. The other one is a close connection between the CM property and Positive Geometry. Motivated by this, we investigate positivity properties in planar maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We present evidence, based on known analytic multi-loop results, that the CM property extends to several physical quantities in this theory. This includes the (suitably normalized) finite remainder function of the six-particle maximally-helicity-violating (MHV) amplitude, four-point scattering amplitudes on the Coulomb branch, four-point correlation functions, as well as the angle-dependent cusp anomalous dimension. Our findings are however not limited to supersymmetric theories. It is shown that the CM property holds for the QCD and QED cusp anomalous dimensions, to three and four loops, respectively. We comment on open questions, and on possible numerical applications of complete monotonicity.

Prashanth Raman

Positivity properties of scattering amplitudes

We explore scattering amplitudes on the Coulomb branch of maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We introduce a particular pattern of scalar vacuum expectation values that allow us to define amplitudes with a different mass pattern compared to what was studied previously. This is motivated by an extension of the Amplituhedron that leads to infrared-finite four-particle amplitudes involving massive particles. We work out the Feynman rules on the Coulomb branch and use them, together with generalized unitarity techniques, to perform consistency checks on the Amplituhedron expectations for the one- and two-loop integrands for the four-particle amplitude. We present details of the computation of the required two-loop four-point integrals via a four-dimensional version of the differential equations method. Finally, we study the Regge limit of the four-point amplitude, including the first power suppressed terms. We find that when organized in terms of a suitable expansion parameter, the subleading power term exponentiates, with the exponent matching the anomalous dimension of a cusped Wilson line with a local operator insertion. The latter is known from integrability, which leads to a prediction at higher loop orders in the Regge limit.

Wojciech Flieger

Anders Schreiber

United States

Jaroslav Trnka

Two-loop four-point amplitudes on the Coulomb branch of $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 super Yang-Mills

In this paper we discuss the geometric integrand expansion of the five-point Wilson loop with one Lagrangian insertion in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We construct the integrand corresponding to an all-loop class of ladder-type geometries. We then investigate the known two-loop observable from this geometric viewpoint. To do so, we evaluate analytically the new two-loop integrals corresponding to the negative geometry contribution, using the canonical differential equations method. Inspecting the analytic result, we present numerical evidence that in this decomposition, each piece has uniform sign properties, when evaluated in the Amplituhedron region. Finally, we present an alternative bootstrap approach for the ladder-type geometries. We find that certain minimal bootstrap assumptions can be satisfied at two loops, but lead to a contradiction at three loops. This suggests to us that novel alphabet letters are required at this loop order. Indeed studying planar three-loop Feynman integrals, we do identify novel pentagon alphabet letters.

Shun-Qing Zhang

Positivity properties of five-point two-loop Wilson loops with Lagrangian insertion

We compute analytically the three-loop correlation function of the local operator tr $\textit{ϕ}$ inserted into three on-shell states, in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The result is expressed in terms of Chen iterated integrals. We also present our result using generalised polylogarithms, and evaluate them numerically, finding agreement with a previous numerical result in the literature. We observe that the result depends on fewer kinematic singularities compared to individual Feynman integrals. Furthermore, upon choosing a suitable definition of the finite part, we find that the latter satisfies powerful symbol adjacency relations similar to those previously observed for the tr $\textit{ϕ}$ case.

Jungwon Lim

United Kingdom

William Torres Bobadilla

Analytic evaluation of the three-loop three-point form factor of tr $\textit{ϕ}$

Several recent works have demonstrated the powerful algebraic simplifications that can be achieved for scattering amplitudes through a systematic grading of transcendental quantities. We develop these concepts to construct a minimal basis of functions tailored to a scattering amplitude in a general way. Starting with formal solutions for all master integral topologies, we organise the appearing functions by properties such as their symbol alphabet or letter adjacency. We rotate the basis such that functions with spurious features appear in the least possible number of basis elements. Since their coefficients must vanish for physical quantities, this approach avoids complex cancellations. As a first application, we evaluate all integral topologies relevant to the three-loop $\textit{Hggg}$ and $$ Hgq\overline{q} $$ amplitudes in the leading-colour approximation and heavy-top limit. We describe the derivation of canonical differential equation systems and present a method for fixing boundary conditions without the need for a full functional representation. Using multiple numerical reductions, we test the maximal transcendentality conjecture for Hggg and identify a new letter which appears in functions of weight 4 and 5. In addition, we provide the first direct analytic computation of a three-point form factor of the operator Tr($\textit{ϕ}$ ) in planar $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 sYM and find agreement with numerical and bootstrapped results.

Switzerland

Thomas Gehrmann

Petr Jakubčík

Cesare Mella

Nikolaos Syrrakos

Lorenzo Tancredi

Graded transcendental functions: an application to four-point amplitudes with one off-shell leg

We compute three families of two-loop six-point massless Feynman integrals in dimensional regularization, namely the double-box, the pentagon-triangle, and the hegaxon-bubble family. This constitutes the first analytic computation of two-loop master integrals with eight scales. We use the method of canonical differential equations. We describe the corresponding integral basis with uniform transcendentality, the relevant function alphabet, and analytic boundary values at a particular point in the Euclidean region up to the fourth order in the regularization parameter ϵ. The results are expressed as one-fold integrals over classical polylogarithms. We provide a set of supplementary files containing our results in machine-readable form, including a proof-of-concept implementation for numerical evaluations of the one-fold integrals valid within a subset of the Euclidean region.

A computation of two-loop six-point Feynman integrals in dimensional regularization

The general structure of infrared divergences in the scattering of massive particles is captured by the soft anomalous dimension matrix. The latter can be computed from a correlation function of multiple Wilson lines. The state-of-the-art two-loop result has a tantalizingly simple structure that is not manifest in the calculations. We argue that the complexity in intermediate steps of the known calculations comes from spurious, regulator-dependent terms. Based on this insight we propose a different infrared regulator that is associated to only one of the Wilson lines. We demonstrate that this streamlines obtaining the two-loop result: computing the required Feynman integrals via the differential equations method, only multiple polylogarithmic functions appear (to all orders in the dimensional regulator), as opposed to elliptic polylogarithms. We show that the new method is promising for higher-loop applications by computing a three-loop diagram of genuine complexity, and provide the answer in terms of multiple polylogarithms. The relatively simple symbol alphabet we obtain may be of interest for bootstrap approaches.

Calum Milloy

A new method for calculating the soft anomalous dimension matrix for massive particle scattering