arXiv subjects

Cathrin Semper

Publications and source records attributed to Cathrin Semper.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Discrete symmetries of Feynman integrals

We perform a comprehensive study of a certain class of discrete symmetries of families of Feynman integrals, defined as affine changes of variables that map different sectors of the family into each other. We show that these transformations are always encoded into permutations of the Feynman parameters that relate the Lee-Pomeransky polynomials of the two sectors, irrespective of the integral representation used to define the Feynman integrals. We then construct an affine map in loop-momentum space that encodes such a permutation. We also show that these symmetries can be naturally embedded into the framework of twisted cohomology theories, and the period and intersection parings are invariant under the symmetry transformations. If we focus on symmetries within a fixed sector, we obtain a group acting on the twisted cohomology group, and we study the decomposition of this action into irreducible representations. One of our main mathematical results is that the character of this representation is proportional to the Euler characteristic of the corresponding fixed-point set. We then study the implications for Feynman integrals, in particular for the intersection matrix in a canonical basis. We also present a formula for the number of master integrals in a given sector in the presence of a non-trivial symmetry group in terms of the Euler characteristics of fixed-point sets. As an application, we obtain the numbers of master integrals for banana integrals with up to four loops for arbitrary configurations of non-zero masses. In order to achieve our results, we had to combine tools from various different areas of mathematics, including graph theory, group theory and algebraic topology.

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arXiv2026

Intersection theory and canonical differential equations

In these proceedings we will review recent progress in applying ideas from the mathematical framework of twisted cohomology to the study of canonical differential equations for Feynman integrals. Firstly, we will show how the intersection matrix can shed some light on the nature of the canonical basis of a Feynman integral family, a concept still not fully understood in the general case. In particular we will show how the intersection matrix can detect hidden linear dependencies of the iterated integrals resulting from an $\eps$-factorized differential equation, which are difficult to find otherwise. Furthermore, we will explain how the intersection matrix can help in deriving (polynomial) relations between the transcendental functions occurring in the rotation to the canonical basis. This allows us to simplify the rotation, and furthermore leads to simplifications in the final result. The discussion we be kept as light as possible, focusing on a simple running example and deferring the technical details to the original publications.

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arXiv2025

Canonical differential equations and intersection matrices

Differential equations are one of the main approaches to evaluate multi-loop Feynman integrals. The construction of a canonical or $\varepsilon$-factorised basis for multi-loop integrals remains a key bottleneck for this approach, especially when the differential equation involves non dlog-forms. Recently, several methods have been proposed to find $\varepsilon$-factorised differential equations. Many of them introduce new functions that are themselves defined as iterated integrals. If and when these iterated integrals can be explicitly evaluated in terms of other classes of functions remains an open problem. In this paper we elaborate on the recent proposal that one can use the fact that the intersection matrix computed in a canonical basis can be used to derive polynomial relations between these iterated integrals. On the one hand, we discuss properties of the canonical intersection matrix, in particular methods to determine the intersection matrix in a canonical basis. On the other hand we show how one can reduce the non-linear constraints on the iterated integrals to linear ones. We illustrate these ideas on examples involving Calabi-Yau varieties and higher-genus Riemann surfaces.

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arXiv2025

Three-loop banana integrals with four unequal masses

We present a system of canonical differential equations satisfied by the three-loop banana integrals with four distinct non-zero masses in $D = 2-2\eps$ dimensions. Together with the initial condition in the small-mass limit, this provides all the ingredients to find analytic results for three-loop banana integrals in terms of iterated integrals to any desired order in the dimensional regulator. To obtain this result, we rely on recent advances in understanding the K3 geometry underlying these integrals and in how to construct rotations to an $\eps$-factorized basis. This rotation typically involves the introduction of objects defined as integrals of (derivatives of) K3 periods and rational functions. We apply and extend a method based on results from twisted cohomology to identify relations among these functions, which allows us to reduce their number considerably. We expect that the methods that we have applied here will prove useful to compute further multiloop multiscale Feynman integrals attached to non-trivial geometries.

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arXiv2024

Self-duality from twisted cohomology

Recently a notion of self-duality for differential equations of maximal cuts was introduced, which states that there should be a basis in which the matrix for an {\epsilon}-factorised differential equation is persymmetric. It was observed that the rotation to this special basis may introduce a Galois symmetry relating different integrals. We argue that the proposed notion of self-duality for maximal cuts stems from a very natural notion of self-duality from twisted cohomology. Our main result is that, if the differential equations and their duals are simultaneously brought into canonical form, the cohomology intersection matrix is a constant. Furthermore, we show that one can associate quite generically a Lie algebra representation to an {\epsilon}-factorised system. For maximal cuts, this representation is irreducible and self-dual. The constant intersection matrix can be interpreted as expressing the equivalence of this representation and its dual, which in turn results in constraints for the differential equation matrix. Unlike the earlier proposal, the most natural symmetry of the differential equation matrix is defined entirely over the rational numbers and is independent of the basis choice.

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arXiv2024

Twisted Riemann bilinear relations and Feynman integrals

Using the framework of twisted cohomology, we study twisted Riemann bilinear relations (TRBRs) satisfied by multi-loop Feynman integrals and their cuts in dimensional regularisation. After showing how to associate to a given family of Feynman integrals a period matrix whose entries are cuts, we investigate the TRBRs satisfied by this period matrix, its dual and the intersection matrices for twisted cycles and co-cycles. For maximal cuts, the non-relative framework is applicable, and the period matrix and its dual are related in a simple manner. We then find that the TRBRs give rise to quadratic relations that generalise quadratic relations that have previously appeared in the literature. However, we find that the TRBRs do not allow us to obtain quadratic relations for non-maximal cuts or completely uncut Feynman integrals. This can be traced back to the fact that the TRBRs are not quadratic in the period matrix, but separately linear in the period matrix and its dual, and the two are not simply related in the case of a relative cohomology theory, which is required for non-maximal cuts.

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