No Arabic abstract
Soft functions defined in terms of matrix elements of soft fields dressed by Wilson lines are central components of factorization theorems for cross sections and decay rates in collider and heavy-quark physics. While in many cases the relevant soft functions are defined in terms of gluon operators, at subleading order in power counting soft functions containing quark fields appear. We present a detailed discussion of the properties of the soft-quark soft function consisting of a quark propagator dressed by two finite-length Wilson lines connecting at one point. This function enters in the factorization theorem for the Higgs-boson decay amplitude of the $htogammagamma$ process mediated by light-quark loops. We perform the renormalization of this soft function at one-loop order, derive its two-loop anomalous dimension and discuss solutions to its renormalization-group evolution equation in momentum space, in Laplace space and in the diagonal space, where the evolution is strictly multiplicative.
There has been recent interest in understanding the all loop structure of the subleading power soft and collinear limits, with the goal of achieving a systematic resummation of subleading power infrared logarithms. Most of this work has focused on subleading power corrections to soft gluon emission, whose form is strongly constrained by symmetries. In this paper we initiate a study of the all loop structure of soft fermion emission. In $mathcal{N}=1$ QCD we perform an operator based factorization and resummation of the associated infrared logarithms, and prove that they exponentiate into a Sudakov due to their relation to soft gluon emission. We verify this result through explicit calculation to $mathcal{O}(alpha_s^3)$. We show that in QCD, this simple Sudakov exponentiation is violated by endpoint contributions proportional to $(C_A-C_F)^n$ which contribute at leading logarithmic order. Combining our $mathcal{N}=1$ result and our calculation of the endpoint contributions to $mathcal{O}(alpha_s^3)$, we conjecture a result for the soft quark Sudakov in QCD, a new all orders function first appearing at subleading power, and give evidence for its universality. Our result, which is expressed in terms of combinations of cusp anomalous dimensions in different color representations, takes an intriguingly simple form and also exhibits interesting similarities to results for large-x logarithms in the off diagonal splitting functions.
We present the first calculation of the next-to-next-to-leading order threshold soft function for top quark pair production at hadron colliders, with full velocity dependence of the massive top quarks. Our results are fully analytic, and can be entirely written in terms of generalized polylogarithms. The scale-dependence of our result coincides with the well-known two-loop anomalous dimension matrix including the three-parton correlations, which at the two-loop order only appear when more than one massive partons are involved in the scattering process. In the boosted limit, our result exhibits the expected factorization property of mass logarithms, which leads to a consistent extraction of the soft fragmentation function. The next-to-next-to-leading order soft function obtained in this paper is an important ingredient for threshold resummation at the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy.
The dynamical cascade of momentum, spin, charge, and other quantum numbers from an ultra-violet process into the infra-red is a fundamental concern for asymptotically free or conformal gauge field theories. It is also a practical concern for any high energy scattering experiment with energies above tens of GeV. We present a formulation of the evolution equation that governs this cascade, the Banfi-Marchesini-Smye equation, from both an effective field theory point of view and a direct diagrammatic argument. The equation uses exact momentum conservation, and is applicable to both scattering with initial and final state hard partons. The direct diagrammatic formulation is organized by constructing a generating functional. This functional is also automatically realized with soft wilson lines and collinear field operators coupled to external currents. The two approaches are directly connected by reverse engineering the Lehman-Symanzik-Zimmermann reduction procedure to insert states within the soft and collinear matrix elements. At leading order, the cascade is completely controlled by the soft anomalous dimension. By decomposing the anomalous dimension into on-shell and off-shell regions as would be realized in the effective field theory approach with a Glauber mediating potential, we are forced to choose a transverse momentum ordering in order to trivialize the overlap between Glauber potential contributions and the pure soft region. The evolution equation then naturally incorporates factorization violating effects driven by off-shell exchanges for active partons. Finally, we examine the consequences of abandoning exact momentum conservation as well as terminating the evolution at the largest inclusive scale, procedures often used to simplify the analysis of the cascade.
Accurate knowledge of the thermodynamic properties of zero-temperature, high-density quark matter plays an integral role in attempts to constrain the behavior of the dense QCD matter found inside neutron-star cores, irrespective of the phase realized inside the stars. In this Letter, we consider the weak-coupling expansion of the dense QCD equation of state and compute the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-order contribution arising from the non-Abelian interactions among long-wavelength, dynamically screened gluonic fields. Accounting for these interactions requires an all-loop resummation, which can be performed using hard-thermal-loop (HTL) kinematic approximations. Concretely, we perform a full two-loop computation using the HTL effective theory, valid for the long-wavelegth, or soft, modes. We find that the soft sector is well-behaved within cold quark matter, contrary to the case encountered at high temperatures, and find that the new contribution decreases the renormalization-scale dependence of the equation of state at high density.
High-order perturbative calculations for thermodynamic quantities in QCD are complicated by the physics of dynamical screening that affects the soft, long-wavelength modes of the system. Here, we provide details for the evaluation of this soft contribution to the next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (NNNLO) pressure of high-density, zero-temperature quark matter (QM), complementing our accompanying paper in arXiv:2103.05658. Our calculation requires the determination of the pressure of the hard-thermal-loop (HTL) effective theory to full two-loop order at zero temperature, which we go through in considerable detail. In addition to this, we comprehensively discuss the structure of the weak-coupling expansion of the QM pressure, and lay out a roadmap towards the evaluation of the contributions missing from a full NNNLO result for this quantity.