arXiv subjects

Eric Laenen

Publications and source records attributed to Eric Laenen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Jet functions for next-to-leading power factorization

We discuss the factorization of scattering processes near partonic threshold at next-to-leading power (NLP) in the threshold variable $1-z$, with $z \equiv q^2/\hat{s}$. We review the general structure of power-suppressed contributions both in Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) and in a direct QCD approach, and discuss the definition of NLP jet functions as gauge-invariant operator matrix elements in QCD. As a controlled check of the resulting factorization formula, we verify it explicitly at one and two loops for the massive electromagnetic form factor in the limit $m^2 \ll s$, using the method of regions. We conclude by outlining the two challenges that remain for a systematic resummation of NLP logarithms: the treatment of endpoint divergences in SCET convolutions, and the extension of jet functions to radiative processes capable of describing an arbitrary number of soft-gluon emissions -- the latter being the last missing ingredient for exponentiation, given that the purely soft sector is already understood in terms of generalised webs via the replica trick.

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arXiv2025

Next-to-leading power jet functions in the small-mass limit in QED

We investigate the factorization properties of the massive fermion form factor in QED, to next-to-leading power in the fermion mass, and up to two-loop order. For this purpose we define new jet functions that have multiple connections to the hard part as operator matrix elements, and compute them to second order in the coupling. We test our factorization formula using these new jet functions in a region-based analysis and find that factorization indeed holds. We address a number of subtle aspects such as rapidity regulators and external line corrections, and we find an interesting sequence of relations among the jet functions.

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arXiv2024

NNLL-fast 2.0: Coloured Sparticle Production at the LHC Run 3 with $\sqrt{S}$ = 13.6 TeV

We report on updated precision predictions for total cross sections of coloured supersymmetric particle production at the LHC with a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt S$ = 13.6 TeV, computed with the modern PDF4LHC21 set. The cross sections are calculated at an approximated NNLO accuracy in QCD and contain corrections from the threshold resummation of soft-gluon emission up to NNLL accuracy as well as Coulomb-gluon contributions including bound-state terms. The corrections are found to increase the cross sections and reduce the theoretical uncertainty as compared to the best available fixed-order calculations. These predictions constitute the state-of-the-art calculations and update the existing results for $\sqrt S$ = 13 TeV. We make our new results publicly available in the version 2.0 update to the code package NNLL-fast.

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arXiv2024

Region analysis of QED massive fermion form factor

We perform an analysis of the one- and two-loop massive quark form factor in QED in a region expansion, up to next-to-leading power in the quark mass. This yields an extensive set of regional integrals, categorized into three topologies, against which factorization theorems at next-to-leading power could be tested. Our analysis reveals a number of subtle aspects involving rapidity regulators, as well as additional regions that manifest themselves only beyond one loop, at the level of single diagrams, but which cancel in the form factor.

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arXiv2023

Flow Oriented Perturbation Theory

Flow Oriented Perturbation Theory (FOPT) is a novel approach to Feynman diagrams based on the coordinate (position) space description of Quantum Field Theories (QFT). FOPT offers interesting features regarding the computation of higher-loop Feynman amplitudes such as combinatorial and canonical Feynman rules, explicit infrared singularity factorization on a per-diagram level and the potential to have manifest cancellation of real and virtual singularities. In these proceedings we briefly summarize the derivation of FOPT and present its Feynman rules for covariant diagrams, S-matrix elements and cut diagrams in massless scalar QFT, supported by examples. We then discuss the extension of FOPT to massless fermion fields and indicate steps towards the treatment of massive lines in arbitrary dimensions.

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arXiv2023

Next-to-soft radiation from a different angle

Soft and collinear radiation in collider processes can be described in a universal way, that is independent of the underlying process. Recent years have seen a number of approaches for probing whether radiation beyond the leading soft approximation can also be systematically classified. In this paper, we study a formula that captures the leading next-to-soft QCD radiation affecting processes with both final- and initial-state partons, by shifting the momenta in the non-radiative squared amplitude. We first examine W+jet production, and show that a previously derived formula of this type indeed holds in the case in which massive colour singlet particles are present in the final state. Next, we develop a physical understanding of the momentum shifts, showing precisely how they disrupt the well-known angular ordering property of leading soft radiation.

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arXiv2023

Next-to-leading power resummed rapidity distributions near threshold for Drell-Yan and diphoton production

We consider Drell-Yan production and QCD-induced diphoton production and compute their rapidity distributions up to next-to-leading power (NLP) in the threshold variable. We give results for rapidity distributions of the Drell-Yan process up to NNLO accuracy and show that a factorised structure occurs for the leading logarithms (LL) at NLP, generalising the result at leading power. For diphoton production, we generalise methods based on kinematical shifts to find the NLO cross section up to NLP for rapidity distributions. From the results for these two processes, we derive resummed cross sections at NLP LL accuracy that are double differential in the threshold variable and the rapidity variable, which generalise results for single differential resummed cross sections.

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arXiv2023

Next-to-leading power corrections to the event shape variables

We investigate the origin of next-to-leading power corrections to the event shapes thrust and $c$-parameter, at next-to-leading order. For both event shapes we trace the origin of such terms in the exact calculation, and compare with a recent approach involving the eikonal approximation and momentum shifts that follow from the Low-Burnett-Kroll-Del Duca theorem. We assess the differences both analytically and numerically. For the $c$-parameter both exact and approximate results are expressed in terms of elliptic integrals, but near the elastic limit it exhibits patterns similar to the thrust results.

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arXiv2023

Resurgence analysis of the Adler function at order $1/N_f^2$

We compute non-perturbative contributions to the Adler function, the derivative of the vacuum polarization function in gauge theory, using resurgence methods and Borel-summed gauge field propagators. At 2-loop, to order $1/N_f$, we construct the full 2-parameter transseries and perform the sum over the non-perturbative sectors. We then introduce a convolution-based method to derive the transseries structure of product series, which can also be used to study higher orders in the expansion in $1/N_f$. We compute 3-loop planar diagrams, at order $1/N_f^2$, and for each diagram study the asymptotic behavior and resulting non-perturbative information in the transseries. A structure emerges that, from a resurgence point of view, is quite different from toy models hitherto studied. We study in particular the first and second non-perturbative sectors, their relation to UV and IR renormalons, and how their presence influences the perturbative expansions in neighbouring sectors. Finally, finding that many non-perturbative sectors have asymptotic series, we derive relations among all of them, thus providing an interesting new perspective on the alien lattice for the Adler function.

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arXiv2023

Flow-oriented perturbation theory

We introduce a new diagrammatic approach to perturbative quantum field theory, which we call flow-oriented perturbation theory (FOPT). Within it, Feynman graphs are replaced by strongly connected directed graphs (digraphs). FOPT is a coordinate space analogue of time-ordered perturbation theory and loop-tree duality, but it has the advantage of having combinatorial and canonical Feynman rules, combined with a simplified $i\varepsilon$ dependence of the resulting integrals. Moreover, we introduce a novel digraph-based representation for the S-matrix. The associated integrals involve the Fourier transform of the flow polytope. Due to this polytope's properties, our S-matrix representation exhibits manifest infrared singularity factorization on a per-diagram level. Our findings reveal an interesting interplay between spurious singularities and Fourier transforms of polytopes.

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arXiv2021

Next-to-leading power threshold corrections for finite order and resummed colour-singlet cross sections

We study next-to-leading-power (NLP) threshold corrections in colour-singlet production processes, with particular emphasis on Drell-Yan (DY) and single-Higgs production. We assess the quality of the partonic and hadronic threshold expansions for each process up to NNLO. We determine numerically the NLP leading-logarithmic (LL) resummed contribution in addition to the leading-power next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (LP NNLL) resummed DY and Higgs cross sections, matched to NNLO. We find that the inclusion of NLP logarithms is numerically more relevant than increasing the precision to N$^3$LL at LP for these processes. We also perform an analytical and numerical comparison of LP NNLL + NLP LL resummation in soft-collinear effective theory and direct QCD, where we achieve excellent analytical and numerical agreement once the NLP LL terms are included in both formalisms. Our results underline the phenomenological importance of understanding the NLP structure of QCD cross sections.

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arXiv2019

Next-to-leading power threshold effects for resummed prompt photon production

We assess and compare different methods for including leading threshold logarithms at next-to-leading-power in prompt photon production at hadron colliders, for both the direct and parton fragmentation mechanisms. We do this in addition to next-to-leading logarithmic threshold and joint resummation at leading power. We study the size of these effects and their scale variations for LHC kinematics. We find that the next-to-leading power effects have a noticeable effect on the photon transverse momentum distribution, typically of order $\mathcal{O}(10\%)$, depending on the method of inclusion. Our results indicate that next-to-leading power terms can reduce the scale dependence of the distribution considerably.

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arXiv2019

Next-to-leading power threshold effects for inclusive and exclusive processes with final state jets

It is well known that cross-sections in perturbative QCD receive large corrections from soft and collinear radiation, whose properties must be resummed to all orders in the coupling. Whether or not the universal properties of this radiation can be extended to next-to-leading power (NLP) in the threshold expansion has been the subject of much recent study. In this paper, we consider two types of NLP effects: the interplay of next-to-soft and collinear radiation in processes with final state jets and the NLP contributions stemming from soft quarks. We derive an NLP amplitude for soft gluons and quarks, valid for an arbitrary number of coloured or colourless massless final state particles. We show explicitly that this framework can be used to correctly obtain the dominant NLP effects in three different types of processes at next-to-leading order: deep-inelastic scattering, hadroproduction via electron-positron annihilation and prompt photon production. Our results provide an important ingredient for developing a universal resummation formalism for NLP effects.

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arXiv2016

NNLL-fast: predictions for coloured supersymmetric particle production at the LHC with threshold and Coulomb resummation

We present state-of-the art predictions for the production of supersymmetric squarks and gluinos at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), including soft-gluon resummation up to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy, the resummation of Coulomb corrections and the contribution from bound states. The NNLL corrections enhance the cross-section predictions and reduce the scale uncertainty to a level of 5-10%. The NNLL resummed cross-section predictions can be obtained from the computer code NNLL-fast, which also provides the scale uncertainty and the pdf and alpha_s error.

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arXiv2016

NNLL resummation for stop pair-production at the LHC

The production of supersymmetric stop-antistop pairs at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is studied including corrections from soft-gluon resummation up to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy in the Mellin-space approach. Additionally, corrections to the hard-matching coefficient at one-loop and Coulomb contributions at two-loop order are considered. The NNLL corrections enhance the cross section for all stop masses at centre-of-mass energies of 8 and 13 TeV compared to the previously calculated predictions at next-to-leading logarithmic (NLL) accuracy. Furthermore, a slight increase in the dependence on the additional stop-mixing parameters is observed.

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arXiv2016

Unitarity methods for Mellin moments of Drell-Yan cross sections

We develop a method for computing Mellin moments of single inclusive cross sections such as Drell-Yan production directly from forward scattering diagrams, by invoking unitarity in the form of cutting equations. We provide a diagram-independent prescription for eliminating contributions from unwanted cuts at the level of an expansion in the reciprocal omega=1/z variable. The modified sum over powers of omega produces the result from physical cuts only, with the nth coefficient precisely equal to the nth Mellin moment of the cross section. We demonstrate and validate our method for representative one- and two-loop diagrams.

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arXiv2016

Next-to-leading power threshold logarithms: a status report

There is ample evidence, dating as far back as Low's theorem, that the universality of soft emissions extends beyond leading power in the soft energy. This universality can, in principle, be exploited to generalise the formalism of threshold resummations beyond leading power in the threshold variable. In the past years, several phenomenological approaches have been partially successful in performing such a resummation. Here, we briefly review some recent developments which pave the way to a solution of this problem, at least for electroweak annihilation processes.

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arXiv2016

NLO+NLL squark and gluino production cross-sections with threshold-improved parton distributions

We present updated predictions for the cross-sections for pair production of squarks and gluinos at the LHC Run II. First of all, we update the calculations based on NLO+NLL partonic cross-sections by using the NNPDF3.0NLO global analysis. This study includes a full characterization of theoretical uncertainties from higher orders, PDFs and the strong coupling. Then, we explore the implications for this calculation of the recent NNPDF3.0 PDFs with NLO+NLL threshold resummation. We find that the shift in the results induced by the threshold-improved PDFs is within the total theory uncertainty band of the calculation based on NLO PDFs. However, we also observe that the central values of the cross-sections are modified both in a qualitative and a quantitative way, illustrating the relevance and impact of using threshold-improved PDFs together with resummed partonic cross-sections. The updated NLO+NLL cross-sections based on NNPDF3.0NLO are publicly available in the NLL-fast format, and should be an important ingredient for the interpretation of the searches for supersymmetric particles at Run II.

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