Baikov-Lee Representations Of Cut Feynman Integrals

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 furthermore makes the dependence on the kinematic variables manifest from the beginning. By combining the Baikov-Lee representation of maximally-cut Feynman integrals and the properties of periods of algebraic curves, we are able to obtain complete solution sets for the homogeneous differential equations satisfied by Feynman integrals which go beyond multiple polylogarithms. We apply our formalism to the direct evaluation of a number of interesting cut Feynman integrals.Comment: 37 pages; v2 is the published version of this work with references added relative to v

Numerical Multi-Loop Calculations via Finite Integrals and One-Mass EW-QCD Drell-Yan Master Integrals

We study a recently-proposed approach to the numerical evaluation of multi-loop Feynman integrals using available sector decomposition programs. As our main example, we consider the two-loop integrals for the $\alpha \alpha_s$ corrections to Drell-Yan lepton production with up to one massive vector boson in physical kinematics. As a reference, we evaluate these planar and non-planar integrals by the method of differential equations through to weight five. Choosing a basis of finite integrals for the numerical evaluation with SecDec3 leads to tremendous performance improvements and renders the otherwise problematic seven-line topologies numerically accessible. As another example, basis integrals for massless QCD three loop form factors are evaluated with FIESTA4. Here, employing a basis of finite integrals results in an overall speedup of more than an order of magnitude.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure, 4 tables, 2 ancillary files with analytical results; in v2: minor improvements in the text with additional references added. v2 is the version published in JHE

A novel approach to integration by parts reduction

Integration by parts reduction is a standard component of most modern multi-loop calculations in quantum field theory. We present a novel strategy constructed to overcome the limitations of currently available reduction programs based on Laporta's algorithm. The key idea is to construct algebraic identities from numerical samples obtained from reductions over finite fields. We expect the method to be highly amenable to parallelization, show a low memory footprint during the reduction step, and allow for significantly better run-times.Comment: 4 pages. Version 2 is the final, published version of this articl

The Complete Two-Loop Integrated Jet Thrust Distribution In Soft-Collinear Effective Theory

In this work, we complete the calculation of the soft part of the two-loop integrated jet thrust distribution in e+e- annihilation. This jet mass observable is based on the thrust cone jet algorithm, which involves a veto scale for out-of-jet radiation. The previously uncomputed part of our result depends in a complicated way on the jet cone size, r, and at intermediate stages of the calculation we actually encounter a new class of multiple polylogarithms. We employ an extension of the coproduct calculus to systematically exploit functional relations and represent our results concisely. In contrast to the individual contributions, the sum of all global terms can be expressed in terms of classical polylogarithms. Our explicit two-loop calculation enables us to clarify the small r picture discussed in earlier work. In particular, we show that the resummation of the logarithms of r that appear in the previously uncomputed part of the two-loop integrated jet thrust distribution is inextricably linked to the resummation of the non-global logarithms. Furthermore, we find that the logarithms of r which cannot be absorbed into the non-global logarithms in the way advocated in earlier work have coefficients fixed by the two-loop cusp anomalous dimension. We also show that, given appropriate L-loop contributions to the integrated hemisphere soft function, one can straightforwardly predict a number of potentially large logarithmic contributions at L loops not controlled by the factorization theorem for jet thrust.Comment: 52 pages, 5 figures; in v2: incorporated referee suggestions in text, including additional figures and footnotes for the purpose of clarification. v2 is the version published in PR