Leading-color two-loop QCD corrections for three-jet production at hadron colliders

We present the complete set of leading-color two-loop contributions required to obtain next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) QCD corrections to three-jet production at hadron colliders. We obtain analytic expressions for a generating set of finite remainders, valid in the physical region for three-jet production. The analytic continuation of the known Euclidean-region results is determined from a small set of numerical evaluations of the amplitudes. We obtain analytic expressions that are suitable for phenomenological applications and we present a C++ library for their efficient and stable numerical evaluation.

Lifting heptagon symbols to functions

Seven-point amplitudes in planar $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory have previously been constructed through four loops using the Steinmann cluster bootstrap, but only at the level of the symbol. We promote these symbols to actual functions, by specifying their first derivatives and boundary conditions on a particular two-dimensional surface. To do this, we impose branch-cut conditions and construct the entire heptagon function space through weight six. We plot the amplitudes on a few lines in the bulk Euclidean region, and explore the properties of the heptagon function space under the coaction associated with multiple polylogarithms.

Reflection positivity and complex analysis of the Yang–Mills theory from a viewpoint of gluon confinement

In order to understand the confining decoupling solution of the Yang–Mills theory in the Landau gauge, we consider the massive Yang–Mills model which is defined by just adding a gluon mass term to the Yang–Mills theory with the Lorentz-covariant gauge fixing term and the associated Faddeev–Popov ghost term. First of all, we show that massive Yang–Mills model is obtained as a gauge-fixed version of the gauge-invariantly extended theory which is identified with the gauge-scalar model with a single fixed-modulus scalar field in the fundamental representation of the gauge group. This equivalence is obtained through the gauge-independent description of the Brout–Englert–Higgs mechanism proposed recently by one of the authors. Then, we reconfirm that the Euclidean gluon and ghost propagators in the Landau gauge obtained by numerical simulations on the lattice are reproduced with good accuracy from the massive Yang–Mills model by taking into account one-loop quantum corrections. Moreover, we demonstrate in a numerical way that the Schwinger function calculated from the gluon propagator in the Euclidean region exhibits violation of the reflection positivity at the physical point of the parameters. In addition, we perform the analytic continuation of the gluon propagator from the Euclidean region to the complex momentum plane towards the Minkowski region. We give an analytical proof that the reflection positivity is violated for any choice of the parameters in the massive Yang–Mills model, due to the existence of a pair of complex conjugate poles and the negativity of the spectral function for the gluon propagator to one-loop order. The complex structure of the propagator enables us to explain why the gluon propagator in the Euclidean region is well described by the Gribov–Stingl form. We try to understand these results in light of the Fradkin–Shenker continuity between confinement-like and Higgs-like regions in a single confinement phase in the complementary gauge-scalar model.

On the relation between pole and running heavy quark masses beyond the four-loop approximation

The effective charges motivated method is applied to the relation between pole and M̅S̅-scheme heavy quark masses to study high order perturbative QCD corrections in the observable quantities proportional to the running quark masses. The non-calculated five- and six-loop perturbative QCD coefficients are estimated. This approach predicts for these terms the sign-alternating expansion in powers of number of lighter flavors nl, while the analyzed recently infrared renormalon asymptotic expressions do not reproduce the same behavior. We emphasize that coefficients of the quark mass relation contain proportional to π2 effects, which result from analytical continuation from the Euclidean region, where the scales of the running masses and QCD coupling constant are initially fixed, to the Minkowskian region, where the pole masses and the running QCD parameters are determined. For the t-quark the asymptotic nature of the non-resummed PT mass relation does not manifest itself at six-loops, while for the b-quark the minimal PT term appears at the probed by direct calculations four-loop level. The recent infrared renormalon based studies support these conclusions.

Asymptotic Behavior and Critical Coupling in Scalar Yukawa Model

The solution of the equation for the pion propagator in the leading order of the [Formula: see text] – expansion for a vector-matrix model with interaction [Formula: see text] in four dimensions shows a change of the asymptotic behavior in the deep Euclidean region in a vicinity of a certain critical value of the coupling constant.

OPERATOR-PRODUCT EXPANSION AND ANALYTICITY

We discuss the current use of the operator-product expansion in QCD calculations. Treating the OPE as an expansion in inverse powers of an energy-squared variable (with possible exponential terms added), approximating the vacuum expectation value of the operator product by several terms and assuming a bound on the remainder along the Euclidean region, we observe how the bound varies with increasing deflection from the Euclidean ray down to the cut (Minkowski region). We argue that the assumption that the remainder is constant for all angles in the cut complex plane down to the Minkowski region is not justified. Making specific assumptions on the properties of the expanded function, we obtain bounds on the remainder in explicit form and show that they are very sensitive both to the deflection angle and to the class of functions considered. The results obtained are discussed in connection with calculations of the coupling constant αs from the τ decay.

The Use of Power Expansions in Quantum Field Theory

Methods of summation of power series relevant to applications in quantum theory are reviewed, with particular attention to expansions in powers of the coupling constant and in inverse powers of an energy variable. Alternatives to the Borel summation method are considered and their relevance to different physical situations is discussed. Emphasis is placed on quantum chromodynamics. Recent applications of the renormalon language to perturbation expansions (resummation of bubble chains) in various QCD processes are reported and the importance of observing the full renormalization-group invariance in predicting observables is emphasized. News in applications of the Borel-plane formalism to phenomenology are conveyed. The properties of the operator-product expansion along different rays in the complex plane are examined and the problem is studied as to how the remainder after subtraction of the first n terms depends on the distance from the Euclidean region. Estimates of the remainder are explicitly calculated and their strong dependence on the nature of the discontinuity along the cut is shown. Relevance of this subject to calculations of various QCD effects is discussed.

Classical Signature Change in the Black Hole Topology

Investigations of classical signature change have generally envisaged applications to cosmological models, usually a Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker model. The purpose has been to avoid the inevitable singularity of models with purely Lorentzian signature, replacing the neighbourhood of the big bang with an initial, singularity free region of Euclidean signature, and a signature change. We here show that signature change can also avoid the singularity of gravitational collapse. We investigate the process of re-birth of Schwarzschild type black holes, modelling it as a double signature change, joining two universes of Lorentzian signature through a Euclidean region which provides a "bounce". We show that this process is viable both with and without matter present, but realistic models — which have the signature change surfaces hidden inside the horizons — require nonzero density. In fact the most realistic models are those that start as a finite cloud of collapsing matter, surrounded by vacuum. We consider how geodesics may be matched across a signature change surface, and conclude that the particle "masses" must jump in value. This scenario may be relevant to Smolin's recent proposal that a form of natural selection operates on the level of universes, which favours the type of universe we live in.