Color-dressed recursive relations for multi-parton amplitudes

Remarkable progress inspired by twistors has lead to very simple analytic expressions and to new recursive relations for multi-parton color-ordered amplitudes. We show how such relations can be extended to include color and present the corresponding color-dressed formulation for the Berends-Giele, BCF and a new kind of CSW recursive relations. A detailed comparison of the numerical efficiency of the different approaches to the calculation of multi-parton cross sections is performed.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures, 6 table

Harmonic polylogarithms for massive Bhabha scattering

One- and two-dimensional harmonic polylogarithms, HPLs and GPLs, appear in calculations of multi-loop integrals. We discuss them in the context of analytical solutions for two-loop master integrals in the case of massive Bhabha scattering in QED. For the GPLs we discuss analytical representations, conformal transformations, and also their transformations corresponding to relations between master integrals in the s- and t-channel.Comment: 6 pages, latex, uses espcrc2.sty, contrib. to Proc. of X. Int. Workshop on Advanced Computing and Analysis Techniques in Physics Research (ACAT), May 22 - 27, 2005, DESY, Zeuthen, Germany, to appear in NI

Numerical evaluation of multiple polylogarithms

Multiple polylogarithms appear in analytic calculations of higher order corrections in quantum field theory. In this article we study the numerical evaluation of multiple polylogarithms. We provide algorithms, which allow the evaluation for arbitrary complex arguments and without any restriction on the weight. We have implemented these algorithms with arbitrary precision arithmetic in C++ within the GiNaC framework.Comment: 23 page

Explicit Results for the Anomalous Three Point Function and Non-Renormalization Theorems

Two-loop corrections for the correlator of the singlet axial and vector currents in QCD are calculated in the chiral limit for arbitrary momenta. Explicit calculations confirm the non-renormalization theorems derived recently by Vainshtein and Knecht et.al. We find that as in the one-loop case also at the two loops the correlator has only 3 independent form-factors instead of 4. From the explicit results we observe that the two-loop correction to the correlator is equal to the one-loop result times the constant factor C_2(R) alpha_s/pi in the MSbar scheme. This holds for the full correlator, for the anomalous longitudinal as well as for the non- anomalous thansversal amplitudes. The finite overall alpha_s dependent constant has to be normalized away by renormalizing the axial current according to Witten's algebraic/geometrical constraint on the anomalous Ward identity. Our observations, together with known facts, suggest that in perturbation theory the correlator is proportional to the one-loop term to all orders and that the non- renormalization theorem of the Adler-Bell-Jackiw anomaly carries over to the full correlator.Comment: 10 pages, 2 Postscript figures, uses axodraw.st

From Trees to Loops and Back

We argue that generic one-loop scattering amplitudes in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories can be computed equivalently with MHV diagrams or with Feynman diagrams. We first present a general proof of the covariance of one-loop non-MHV amplitudes obtained from MHV diagrams. This proof relies only on the local character in Minkowski space of MHV vertices and on an application of the Feynman Tree Theorem. We then show that the discontinuities of one-loop scattering amplitudes computed with MHV diagrams are precisely the same as those computed with standard methods. Furthermore, we analyse collinear limits and soft limits of generic non-MHV amplitudes in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories with one-loop MHV diagrams. In particular, we find a simple explicit derivation of the universal one-loop splitting functions in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories to all orders in the dimensional regularisation parameter, which is in complete agreement with known results. Finally, we present concrete and illustrative applications of Feynman's Tree Theorem to one-loop MHV diagrams as well as to one-loop Feynman diagrams.Comment: 52 pages, 17 figures. Some typos in Appendix A correcte

Space-like (vs. time-like) collinear limits in QCD: is factorization violated?

We consider the singular behaviour of QCD scattering amplitudes in kinematical configurations where two or more momenta of the external partons become collinear. At the tree level, this behaviour is known to be controlled by factorization formulae in which the singular collinear factor is universal (process independent). We show that this strict (process-independent) factorization is not valid at one-loop and higher-loop orders in the case of the collinear limit in space-like regions (e.g., collinear radiation from initial-state partons). We introduce a generalized version of all-order collinear factorization, in which the space-like singular factors retain some dependence on the momentum and colour charge of the non-collinear partons. We present explicit results on one-loop and two-loop amplitudes for both the two-parton and multiparton collinear limits. At the level of square amplitudes and, more generally, cross sections in hadron--hadron collisions, the violation of strict collinear factorization has implications on the non-abelian structure of logarithmically-enhanced terms in perturbative calculations (starting from the next-to-next-to-leading order) and on various factorization issues of mass singularities (starting from the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order).Comment: 81 pages, 5 figures, typos corrected in the text, few comments added and inclusion of NOTE ADDED on recent development

Feynman Diagrams and Differential Equations

We review in a pedagogical way the method of differential equations for the evaluation of D-dimensionally regulated Feynman integrals. After dealing with the general features of the technique, we discuss its application in the context of one- and two-loop corrections to the photon propagator in QED, by computing the Vacuum Polarization tensor exactly in D. Finally, we treat two cases of less trivial differential equations, respectively associated to a two-loop three-point, and a four-loop two-point integral. These two examples are the playgrounds for showing more technical aspects about: Laurent expansion of the differential equations in D (around D=4); the choice of the boundary conditions; and the link among differential and difference equations for Feynman integrals.Comment: invited review article from Int. J. Mod. Phys.

The Two Loop Crossed Ladder Vertex Diagram with Two Massive Exchanges

We compute the (three) master integrals for the crossed ladder diagram with two exchanged quanta of equal mass. The differential equations obeyed by the master integrals are used to generate power series expansions centered around all the singular (plus some regular) points, which are then matched numerically with high accuracy. The expansions allow a fast and precise numerical calculation of the three master integrals (better than 15 digits with less than 30 terms in the whole real axis). A conspicuous relation with the equal-mass sunrise in two dimensions is found. Comparison with a previous large momentum expansion is made finding complete agreement.Comment: 42 pages, 1 figur

Triple collinear splitting functions at NLO for scattering processes with photons

We present splitting functions in the triple collinear limit at next-to-leading order. The computation was performed in the context of massless QCD+QED, considering only processes which include at least one photon. Through the comparison of the IR divergent structure of splitting amplitudes with the expected known behavior, we were able to check our results. Besides that we implemented some consistency checks based on symmetry arguments and cross-checked the results among them. Studying photon-started processes, we obtained very compact results