arXiv subjects

Andrew J. McLeod

Publications and source records attributed to Andrew J. McLeod.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Direct-to-Symbol Integration from Landau Analysis

We propose a Landau-analysis-inspired strategy for directly computing the symbol of integrals that evaluate to multiple polylogarithms in twisted cohomology. The central idea is to identify all ways in which singular hypersurfaces, twisted hypersurfaces, and integration boundaries can interact when external parameters are varied, giving rise to logarithmic or algebraic branch points. By tracking how an integral is modified when analytically continued around each of its branch points, we can recursively construct its symbol. We illustrate this approach by outlining an efficient algorithm for computing the symbol of finite integrals over twisted hyperplane arrangements, when they are expanded around special values of the twist parameter. This algorithm can be used to compute the (transcendental) integrands of cosmological correlators in conformally coupled theories to any order in the twist expansion.

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arXiv2026

New Tools in the Landau Bootstrap

We describe recent advances in our understanding of the analytic structure of Feynman integrals. In particular, we describe two new classes of constraints on such integrals, that identify discontinuities that either cannot be repeated, or that always give rise to the same result (no matter which other discontinuities are computed first). These new constraints hold at all orders in dimensional regularization, and provide us with new input for the Landau bootstrap, where information about the singularities and discontinuities of individual Feynman integrals is used to construct their functional form.

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arXiv2026

A Graphical Coaction for FRW Integrals from Partial/Relative Twisted (Co)homology

We construct a graphical coaction for Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) integrals at all loop orders in conformally-coupled scalar theories with non-conformal polynomial interactions. Our construction makes use of intersection theory in the context of (partial/relative) twisted (co)homology, which we use to decompose FRW integrals (and their discontinuities and derivatives) into building blocks that can be represented as decorations of the original Feynman diagram. This facilitates a purely graphical description of the coaction, up to rational prefactors that can be read off from the graph. Our construction provides a comprehensive combinatorial framework for dissecting the analytic properties of cosmological observables; in particular, we demonstrate that the combinatorics of the differential equations that govern FRW integrals -- their so-called kinematic flow -- is a natural consequence of our coaction. We have also developed a user-friendly web application that computes the graphical coaction of any graph: https://frwcoaction.ca. Whenever possible, the web application also computes the differentials and discontinuities. A Mathematica notebook with the same functionality is also hosted at on a public GitHub repository.

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arXiv2025

Steinmann Violation and Minimal Cuts

The Steinmann relations are known to be violated with respect to some -- but not all -- two-particle momentum channels in massless Feynman integrals. We trace the source of this Steinmann violation to a special class of singularities, which arise from partially-overlapping minimal cuts. This allows us to propose an efficient graphical test for predicting which Steinmann relations will be violated by massless Feynman integrals of a given topology, which can be applied at any loop order. We provide evidence for this test by correctly predicting all instances of Steinmann violation in the complete set of known two-loop integrals that contribute to five-particle scattering with one or two external masses.

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arXiv2025

Two-Loop Master Integrals for Mixed QCD-EW Corrections to $gg \to H$ Through $\mathcal{O}(ε^2)$

We consider mixed strong-electroweak corrections to Higgs production via gluon fusion, in which the Higgs boson couples to the top quark. Using the method of differential equations, we compute all of the master integrals that contribute to this process at two loops through $\mathcal{O}(ε^2)$ in the dimensional regularization parameter $ε= (d-4)/2$, keeping full analytic dependence on the top quark, Higgs, W, and Z boson masses. We present the results for these master integrals in terms of iterated integrals whose kernels depend on elliptic curves.

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arXiv2025

A Calabi-Yau-to-Curve Correspondence for Feynman Integrals

It has long been known that the maximal cut of the equal-mass four-loop banana integral is a period of a family of Calabi-Yau threefolds that depends on the kinematic variable $z=m^2/p^2$. We show that it can also be interpreted as a period of a family of genus-two curves. We do this by introducing a general Calabi-Yau-to-curve correspondence, which in this case locally relates the original period of the family of Calabi-Yau threefolds to a period of a family of genus-two curves that varies holomorphically with the kinematic variable $z$. In addition to working out the concrete details of this correspondence for the equal-mass four-loop banana integral, we outline when we expect a correspondence of this type to hold.

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arXiv2024

Antipodal Self-Duality for a Four-Particle Form Factor

We bootstrap the symbol of the maximal-helicity-violating four-particle form factor for the chiral part of the stress-tensor supermultiplet in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory at two loops. When minimally normalized, this symbol involves only 34 letters and obeys the extended Steinmann relations in all partially-overlapping three-particle momentum channels. In addition, the remainder function for this form factor exhibits an antipodal self-duality: it is invariant under the combined operation of the antipodal map defined on multiple polylogarithms -- which reverses the order of the symbol letters -- and a simple kinematic map. This self-duality holds on a four-dimensional parity-preserving kinematic hypersurface. It implies the antipodal duality recently noticed between the three-particle form factor and the six-particle amplitude in this theory.

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arXiv2024

Minimal Cuts and Genealogical Constraints on Feynman Integrals

We introduce an efficient method for deriving hierarchical constraints on the discontinuities of individual Feynman integrals. This method can be applied at any loop order and particle multiplicity, and to any configuration of massive or massless virtual particles. The resulting constraints hold to all orders in dimensional regularization, and complement the extended Steinmann relations -- which restrict adjacent sequential discontinuities -- by disallowing ordered pairs of discontinuities from appearing even when separated by (any number of) other discontinuities. We focus on a preferred class of hierarchical constraints, which we refer to as \emph{genealogical constraints}, that govern what singularities can follow from certain \emph{minimal cuts} that act as the primogenitors of the discontinuities that appear in Feynman integrals. While deriving the full set of hierarchical constraints on a given Feynman integral generally requires identifying all solutions to the (blown up) Landau equations, these genealogical constraints can be worked out with only minimal information about what singularities may appear. We illustrate the power of this new method in examples at one, two, and three loops, and provide evidence that genealogical constraints restrict the analytic structure of Feynman integrals significantly more than the extended Steinmann relations.

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arXiv2023

Recent developments from Feynman integrals

This talk reviews recent developments in the field of analytical Feynman integral calculations. The central theme is the geometry associated to a given Feynman integral. In the simplest case this is a complex curve of genus zero (aka the Riemann sphere). In this talk we discuss Feynman integrals related to more complicated geometries like curves of higher genus or manifolds of higher dimensions. In the latter case we encounter Calabi-Yau manifolds. We also discuss how to compute these Feynman integrals.

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arXiv2023

Genus Drop in Hyperelliptic Feynman Integrals

The maximal cut of the nonplanar crossed box diagram with all massive internal propagators was long ago shown to encode a hyperelliptic curve of genus 3 in momentum space. Surprisingly, in Baikov representation, the maximal cut of this diagram only gives rise to a hyperelliptic curve of genus 2. To show that these two representations are in agreement, we identify a hidden involution symmetry that is satisfied by the genus 3 curve, which allows it to be algebraically mapped to the curve of genus 2. We then argue that this is just the first example of a general mechanism by means of which hyperelliptic curves in Feynman integrals can drop from genus $g$ to $\lceil g/2 \rceil$ or $\lfloor g/2 \rfloor$, which can be checked for algorithmically. We use this algorithm to find further instances of genus drop in Feynman integrals.

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arXiv2023

Traintracks All the Way Down

We study the class of planar Feynman integrals that can be constructed by sequentially intersecting traintrack diagrams without forming a closed traintrack loop. After describing how to derive a $2L$-fold integral representation of any $L$-loop diagram in this class, we provide evidence that their leading singularities always give rise to integrals over $(L{-}1)$-dimensional varieties for generic external momenta, which for certain graphs we can identify as Calabi-Yau $(L{-}1)$-folds. We then show that these diagrams possess an interesting nested structure, due to the large number of second-order differential operators that map them to (products of) lower-loop integrals of the same type.

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arXiv2023

Bootstrapping a Stress-Tensor Form Factor through Eight Loops

We bootstrap the three-point form factor of the chiral stress-tensor multiplet in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory at six, seven, and eight loops, using boundary data from the form factor operator product expansion. This may represent the highest perturbative order to which multi-variate quantities in a unitary four-dimensional quantum field theory have been computed. In computing this form factor, we observe and employ new restrictions on pairs and triples of adjacent letters in the symbol. We provide details about the function space required to describe the form factor through eight loops. Plotting the results on various lines provides striking numerical evidence for a finite radius of convergence of perturbation theory. By the principle of maximal transcendentality, our results are expected to give the highest weight part of the $g g \rightarrow H g$ and $H \rightarrow ggg$ amplitudes in the heavy-top limit of QCD through eight loops. These results were also recently used to discover a new antipodal duality between this form factor and a six-point amplitude in the same theory.

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arXiv2023

Implications of the Landau Equations for Iterated Integrals

We introduce a method for deriving constraints on the symbol of Feynman integrals from the form of their asymptotic expansions in the neighborhood of Landau loci. In particular, we show that the behavior of these integrals near singular points is directly related to the position in the symbol where one of the letters vanishes or becomes infinite. We illustrate this method on integrals with generic masses, and as a corollary prove the conjectured bound of $\lfloor \frac {D \ell} 2\rfloor$ on the transcendental weight of polylogarithmic $\ell$-loop integrals of this type in integer numbers of dimensions $D$. We also derive new constraints on the kinematic dependence of certain products of symbol letters that remain finite near singular points.

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arXiv2022

Constraints on Sequential Discontinuities from the Geometry of On-shell Spaces

We present several classes of constraints on the discontinuities of Feynman integrals that go beyond the Steinmann relations. These constraints follow from a geometric formulation of the Landau equations that was advocated by Pham, in which the singularities of Feynman integrals correspond to critical points of maps between on-shell spaces. To establish our results, we review elements of Picard-Lefschetz theory, which connect the homotopy properties of the space of complexified external momenta to the homology of the combined space of on-shell internal and external momenta. An important concept that emerges from this analysis is the question of whether or not a pair of Landau singularities is compatible-namely, whether or not the Landau equations for the two singularities can be satisfied simultaneously. Under conditions we describe, sequential discontinuities with respect to non-compatible Landau singularities must vanish. Although we only rigorously prove results for Feynman integrals with generic masses in this paper, we expect the geometric and algebraic insights that we gain will also assist in the analysis of more general Feynman integrals.

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arXiv2022

Solving Scattering in N=4 Super-Yang-Mills Theory

As part of the Snowmass community planning exercise, we highlight an ongoing program of research into the structure of scattering amplitudes in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, particularly in the planar limit of a large number of colors. This theory sits at the nexus of a number of exciting topics in high-energy particle physics, including the AdS/CFT correspondence, conformal field theory, integrability, and string theory, and is believed to be exactly solvable in four dimensions. In many ways, planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory is the "hydrogen atom" of relativistic scattering: It has proven indispensable for learning about new geometrical formulations of quantum field theory, for exploring mathematical properties at high perturbative orders, and for developing powerful new computational methods that have found applicability in precision collider physics.

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arXiv2022

Folding Amplitudes into Form Factors: An Antipodal Duality

We observe that the three-gluon form factor of the chiral part of the stress-tensor multiplet in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory is dual to the six-gluon MHV amplitude on its parity-preserving surface. Up to a simple variable substitution, the map between these two quantities is given by the antipode operation defined on polylogarithms (as part of their Hopf algebra structure), which acts at symbol level by reversing the order of letters in each term. We provide evidence for this duality through seven loops.

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arXiv2022

Functions Beyond Multiple Polylogarithms for Precision Collider Physics

Feynman diagrams constitute one of the essential ingredients for making precision predictions for collider experiments. Yet, while the simplest Feynman diagrams can be evaluated in terms of multiple polylogarithms -- whose properties as special functions are well understood -- more complex diagrams often involve integrals over complicated algebraic manifolds. Such diagrams already contribute at NNLO to the self-energy of the electron, $t \bar{t}$ production, $γγ$ production, and Higgs decay, and appear at two loops in the planar limit of maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. This makes the study of these more complicated types of integrals of phenomenological as well as conceptual importance. In this white paper contribution to the Snowmass community planning exercise, we provide an overview of the state of research on Feynman diagrams that involve special functions beyond multiple polylogarithms, and highlight a number of research directions that constitute essential avenues for future investigation.

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arXiv2021

N$^3$LO gravitational spin-orbit coupling at order $G^4$

In this paper we derive for the first time the N$^3$LO gravitational spin-orbit coupling at order $G^4$ in the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation within the effective field theory (EFT) of gravitating spinning objects. This represents the first computation in a spinning sector involving three-loop integration. We provide a comprehensive account of the topologies in the worldline picture for the computation at order $G^4$. Our computation makes use of the publicly-available \texttt{EFTofPNG} code, which is extended using loop-integration techniques from particle amplitudes. We provide the results for each of the Feynman diagrams in this sector. The three-loop graphs in the worldline picture give rise to new features in the spinning sector, including divergent terms and logarithms from dimensional regularization, as well as transcendental numbers, all of which survive in the final result of the topologies at this order. This result enters at the 4.5PN order for maximally-rotating compact objects, and together with previous work in this line, paves the way for the completion of this PN accuracy.

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