γ5\gamma_{5} in FDH

We investigate the regularization-scheme dependent treatment of $\gamma_{5}$ in the framework of dimensional regularization, mainly focusing on the four-dimensional helicity scheme (FDH). Evaluating distinctive examples, we find that for one-loop calculations, the recently proposed four-dimensional formulation (FDF) of the FDH scheme constitutes a viable and efficient alternative compared to more traditional approaches. In addition, we extend the considerations to the two-loop level and compute the pseudo-scalar form factors of quarks and gluons in FDH. We provide the necessary operator renormalization and discuss at a practical level how the complexity of intermediate calculational steps can be reduced in an efficient way.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

Two-loop Correction to the Leptonic Decay of Quarkonium

Applying asymptotic expansions at threshold, we compute the two-loop QCD correction to the short-distance coefficient that governs the leptonic decay $\psi\to l^+ l^-$ of a S-wave quarkonium state and discuss its impact on the relation between the quarkonium non-relativistic wave function at the origin and the quarkonium decay constant in full QCD.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, 1 figure included via epsf.st

Renormalization-group improved fully differential cross sections for top pair production

We extend approximate next-to-next-to-leading order results for top-pair production to include the semi-leptonic decays of top quarks in the narrow-width approximation. The new hard-scattering kernels are implemented in a fully differential parton-level Monte Carlo that allows for the study of any IR-safe observable constructed from the momenta of the decay products of the top. Our best predictions are given by approximate NNLO corrections in the production matched to a fixed order calculation with NLO corrections in both the production and decay subprocesses. Being fully differential enables us to make comparisons between approximate results derived via different (PIM and 1PI) kinematics for arbitrary distributions. These comparisons reveal that the renormalization-group framework, from which the approximate results are derived, is rather robust in the sense that applying a realistic error estimate allows us to obtain a reliable prediction with a reduced theoretical error for generic observables and analysis cuts

Fully differential NLO predictions for the radiative decay of muons and taus

We present a general purpose Monte Carlo program for the calculation of the radiative muon decay $\mu\to e\,\nu \bar{\nu}\gamma$ and the radiative decays $\tau\to e\, \nu \bar{\nu}\gamma$ and $\tau\to\mu\,\nu \bar{\nu}\gamma$ at next-to-leading order in the Fermi theory. The full dependence on the lepton masses and polarization of the initial-sate lepton are kept. We study the branching ratios for these processes and show that fully-differential next-to-leading order corrections are important for addressing a tension between BaBar's recent measurement of the branching ratio $\mathcal{B}(\tau\to e\, \nu\bar{\nu}\gamma)$ and the Standard Model prediction. In addition, we study various distributions of the process $\mu\to e\,\nu \bar{\nu}\gamma$ and obtain precise predictions for the irreducible background to $\mu\to e \gamma$ searches, tailored to the geometry of the MEG detector.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, published versio

Computation of H→ggH\to gg in FDH and DRED: renormalization, operator mixing, and explicit two-loop results

The $H\to gg$ amplitude relevant for Higgs production via gluon fusion is computed in the four-dimensional helicity scheme (FDH) and in dimensional reduction (DRED) at the two-loop level. The required renormalization is developed and described in detail, including the treatment of evanescent $\epsilon$-scalar contributions. In FDH and DRED there are additional dimension-5 operators generating the $H g g$ vertices, where $g$ can either be a gluon or an $\epsilon$-scalar. An appropriate operator basis is given and the operator mixing through renormalization is described. The results of the present paper provide building blocks for further computations, and they allow to complete the study of the infrared divergence structure of two-loop amplitudes in FDH and DRED

SCET approach to regularization-scheme dependence of QCD amplitudes

We investigate the regularization-scheme dependence of scattering amplitudes in massless QCD and find that the four-dimensional helicity scheme (FDH) and dimensional reduction (DRED) are consistent at least up to NNLO in the perturbative expansion if renormalization is done appropriately. Scheme dependence is shown to be deeply linked to the structure of UV and IR singularities. We use jet and soft functions defined in soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) to efficiently extract the relevant anomalous dimensions in the different schemes. This result allows us to construct transition rules for scattering amplitudes between different schemes (CDR, HV, FDH, DRED) up to NNLO in massless QCD. We also show by explicit calculation that the hard, soft and jet functions in SCET are regularization-scheme independent.Comment: 46 pages, 6 figure

Top physics: An overview

This is a very brief overview of the current status of top-quark physics at hadron colliders, a selection of some mainly theoretical aspects without any claim of completeness

Small-mass effects in heavy-to-light form factors

We present the heavy-to-light form factors with two different non-vanishing masses at next-to-next-to-leading order and study its expansion in the small mass. The leading term of this small-mass expansion leads to a factorized expression for the form factor. The presence of a second mass results in a new feature, in that the soft contribution develops a factorization anomaly. This cancels with the corresponding anomaly in the collinear contribution. With the generalized factorization presented here, it is possible to obtain the leading small-mass terms for processes with large masses, such as muon-electron scattering, from the corresponding massless amplitude and the soft contribution.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, 1 ancillary file, published versio