arXiv subjects

Hua Xing Zhu

Publications and source records attributed to Hua Xing Zhu.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

On the Edge of Safety: Charge-Charge Correlation in the Back-to-Back Limit

We investigate the Charge-Charge Correlation (QQC) in electron-positron annihilation as a probe of charge dynamics in Quantum Chromodynamics. While generally divergent beyond leading order, we show that the QQC is infrared and collinear safe in the back-to-back limit, a property that we dub leading-power safety. This enables an analytic perturbative treatment that bypasses the reliance on non-perturbative track or fragmentation functions. Using Soft-Collinear Effective Field Theory, we derive a factorization theorem and determine its logarithmic behavior analytically up to four loops in QCD, uncovering remarkable connections with the Energy-Energy Correlation (EEC). Prior to this work, the behavior of the QQC beyond leading order was entirely unknown; we now establish its resummation to next-to-next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (N$^4$LL) accuracy, placing it among the observables with the highest perturbative precision alongside the EEC. Our results are validated through a numerical analysis using Event2, exhibiting excellent agreement with the predicted singular terms. This work establishes the QQC as a novel, calculable probe of charge dynamics and unveils a new window into the inner workings of non-Abelian gauge theories.

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arXiv2025

Quantum Scaling in Energy Correlators Beyond the Confinement Transition

We study the QCD scaling behavior of the small-angle Energy-Energy Correlator (EEC), focusing on the transition between its perturbative pre-confinement and non-perturbative post-confinement regimes. Applying the light-ray Operator Product Expansion (OPE), we develop a formalism that describes the scaling of the EEC with the input energy $Q$ in the transition and the post-confinement region, where the latter quantum scaling is determined by the $J=5$ DGLAP anomalous dimension. A key result of our work is a novel connection between the light-ray OPE and the dihadron fragmentation function (DFF), where we show that the non-perturbative OPE coefficients correspond to moments of the DFF. This finding establishes a new paradigm for studying hadronization. Our theoretical predictions are validated against Monte Carlo simulations for both $e^+e^-$ and $pp$ collisions, showing excellent agreement. The potential role of the quantum scaling in the precision determination of $α_s$ is also discussed.

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arXiv2025

Dihadron Angular Correlations in the $e^+e^-$ Collision

The precision of fixed-order calculations on the dihadron production in electron-positron annihilation is paramount for probing QCD factorization and constraining non-perturbative inputs. This paper investigates the QCD corrections to the angular separation distribution $θ_{12}$ between two observed hadrons, $H_1$ and $H_2$, in the process $e^+e^- \to H_1 H_2 + X$ up to $\mathcal{O}(α_s^2)$, with particular emphasis on the intermediate region $θ_{12} \in (0,π)$. The partonic processes at this accuracy consist of two sorts of contributions, the real-virtual and double-real corrections. Of them, the evaluation of four-body phase space integrals in the latter case is at the core of this study. To address them, we first employ the integration-by-parts (IBP) identities to reduce the number of independent integrals and then apply the differential equations (DE) method to recursively solve the resulting master integrals. In kinematic regions where the invariant mass of the unresolved partons vanishes, IBP coefficients can develop divergences. To this end, we resum higher-order terms in the dimensional regulator for each master integral based on the asymptotic behavior of the canonical DEs. After combining the real and virtual corrections with the counter terms from fragmentation function renormalization, we demonstrate that the pole terms in the final analytic expressions exactly cancel out in all partonic channels, thereby providing a non-trivial validation of collinear factorization at the next-to-leading order (NLO). Eventually, when presenting our analytic expressions of the finite partonic coefficients, we transform the transcendental functions resulting from the DE solutions into classical (poly)logarithmic functions, in order to facilitate the implementation in event generators.

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arXiv2025

Energy Correlators: A Journey From Theory to Experiment

Collider experiments offer a unique opportunity to explore the Standard Model (SM), and to search for new physics, new interactions, and new principles of nature. The theoretical abstraction of a collider, namely the study of correlations in asymptotic fluxes, provides one of the most basic examples of an observable in quantum field theory (QFT) and quantum gravity. Energy flux is described in QFT by energy flow operators, a particular example of light-ray operators. In addition to their central role in the theoretical description of collider physics, energy flow operators play an important role in diverse areas of formal QFT and gravity, providing a connection between real world collider phenomenology, and the deep underlying principles of QFT. Recently it has become possible to measure correlation functions of energy flow operators in a wide variety of collider experiments, providing an exciting new connection between collider physics and formal theory. In this review, we provide a survey of recent progress in our understanding of energy operators and their correlators, highlighting their importance in both formal theory and collider phenomenology, and in particular, their great potential for bridging these areas to provide new ways to understand the real world. We intend this article as a resource for both formal theorists interested in understanding how light-ray operators are being applied in particle and nuclear physics, as well as for experimentalists interested in the theoretical motivation for these observables. Most importantly, we aim to stimulate further interaction between the formal, phenomenological and experimental communities through the common lens of energy correlators.

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arXiv2025

PHYBench: Holistic Evaluation of Physical Perception and Reasoning in Large Language Models

Current benchmarks for evaluating the reasoning capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) face significant limitations: task oversimplification, data contamination, and flawed evaluation items. These deficiencies necessitate more rigorous assessment methods. To address these limitations, we introduce PHYBench, a benchmark of 500 original physics problems ranging from high school to Physics Olympiad difficulty. PHYBench addresses data contamination through original content and employs a systematic curation pipeline to eliminate flawed items. Evaluations show that PHYBench activates more tokens and provides stronger differentiation between reasoning models compared to other baselines like AIME 2024, OlympiadBench and GPQA. Even the best-performing model, Gemini 2.5 Pro, achieves only 36.9% accuracy compared to human experts' 61.9%. To further enhance evaluation precision, we introduce the Expression Edit Distance (EED) Score for mathematical expression assessment, which improves sample efficiency by 204% over binary scoring. Moreover, PHYBench effectively elicits multi-step and multi-condition reasoning, providing a platform for examining models' reasoning robustness, preferences, and deficiencies. The benchmark results and dataset are publicly available at https://www.phybench.cn/.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

Bridging the Dimensional Chasm: Uncover Layer-wise Dimensional Reduction in Transformers through Token Correlation

The geometric evolution of token representations in large language models (LLMs) presents a fundamental paradox: while human language inherently organizes semantic information in low-dimensional spaces ($\sim 10^1$ dimensions), modern LLMs employ high-dimensional embeddings ($\sim 10^3$ dimensions) processed through Transformer architectures. To resolve this paradox, this work bridges this conceptual gap by developing a geometric framework that tracks token dynamics across Transformers layers. Through layer-wise analysis of intrinsic dimensions across multiple architectures, we reveal an expansion-contraction pattern where tokens diffuse to a "working space" and then progressively project onto lower-dimensional submanifolds. Our finding implies a negative correlation between the working space dimension and parameter-sensitive performance of the LLMs, and indicates that effective models tend to compress tokens into approximately 10-dimensional submanifolds, closely resembling human semantic spaces. This work not only advances LLM interpretability by reframing Transformers layers as projectors that mediate between high-dimensional computation and low-dimensional semantics, but also provides practical tools for model diagnostics that do not rely on task-specific evaluations.

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arXiv2025

Explainable AI-assisted Optimization for Feynman Integral Reduction

We present a novel approach to optimizing the reduction of Feynman integrals using integration-by-parts identities. By developing a priority function through the FunSearch algorithm, which combines large language models and genetic algorithms, we achieve significant improvements in memory usage and computational efficiency compared to traditional methods. Our approach demonstrates substantial reductions in the required seeding integrals, making previously intractable integrals more manageable. Tested on a variety of Feynman integrals, including one-loop and multi-loop cases with planar and non-planar configurations, our method demonstrates remarkable scalability and adaptability. For reductions of certain Feynman integrals with many dots and numerators, we observed an improvement by a factor of 3058 compared to traditional methods. This work provides a powerful and interpretable framework for optimizing IBP reductions, paving the way for more efficient and practical calculations in high-energy physics.

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arXiv2025

Scaling violation in power corrections to energy correlators from the light-ray OPE

In recent years, energy correlators have emerged as a powerful tool to explore the field theoretic structure of strong interactions at particle colliders. In this Letter we initiate a novel study of the non-perturbative power corrections to the projected $N$-point energy correlators in the limit where the angle between the detectors is small. Using the light-ray operator product expansion (OPE) as a guiding principle, we derive the power corrections in terms of two non-perturbative quantities describing the fragmentation of quarks and gluons. In analogy with their perturbative leading-power counterpart, we show that power corrections obey a classical scaling behavior that is violated at the quantum level. This crucially results in a dependence on the hard scale $Q$ of the problem that is calculable in perturbation theory. Our analytic predictions are successfully tested against Monte Carlo simulations for both lepton and hadron colliders, marking a significant step forward in the understanding of these observables.

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arXiv2024

Threshold Resummation for Semi-Inclusive Single-Hadron Production with Effective Field Theory

Large double-logarithmic corrections are induced by soft gluon emissions near threshold in the semi-inclusive $e^+e^-$ annihilation (SIA) distributions, and must be resummed to all-orders in perturbation theory for reliable theoretical predictions. Building on strategy developed for threshold resummation for DIS structure function in momentum space using soft-collinear effective theory (SCET), we present the explicit formalism for SIA cross section. We then perform the resummation directly in momentum space for $γ^* \to q \bar q$, $H \to gg$ and $H \to b\bar b$ to N$^4$LL accuracy and demonstrate good convergence. We anticipate that these results will benefit the extraction of the light-quark, the heavy-quark as well as the gluon fragmentation functions.

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arXiv2024

Universality in the Near-Side Energy-Energy Correlator

We investigate the energy-energy correlator (EEC) of hadrons produced on the same side in $e^+e^-$ annihilation or in leading jets in $pp$ collisions. We observe a remarkable universality of the correlator. Using a non-perturbative transverse momentum dependent (TMD) fragmentation function to model the transition from the ``free-hadron" region to the perturbative collinear region, we are able to describe the near-side shapes and peaks over a wide range of energy for both the $e^+e^-$ annihilation and the $pp$ jet substructure measurements in terms of just two parameters. We present further predictions for the ratio of the projected three-point energy correlator to the EEC. The excellent agreement between our calculations and the experimental data may provide new insights into the role of non-perturbative physics for EECs, and suggests the possibility of exploring non-perturbative TMDs using theoretical tools developed for the energy correlators.

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arXiv2024

Two-Loop Spacelike Splitting Amplitude for N=4 Super-Yang-Mills Theory

The study of collinear behavior for gauge theories in the spacelike region is of great phenomenological and theoretical importance. We analytically calculate the two-loop spacelike splitting amplitude for the full color N=4 Super-Yang-Mills theory. The result is derived by two complementary methods starting from the known amplitude: one is based on a discontinuity analysis, while the other one is based on analytic continuation. Our result explicitly shows terms that violate naive factorization. However we show that factorization is restored at the level of color-summed unpolarized squared amplitudes at next-to-next-to-next-to leading order. We conjecture that the two-loop tripole terms in the generalized splitting amplitudes in QCD are identical to what we obtain in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2024

Long Range Azimuthal Correlation, Entanglement and Bell Inequality Violation by Spinning Gluons at the LHC

We apply the recently developed concept of the nucleon energy-energy correlator (NEEC) for the gluon sector to investigate the long-range azimuthal angular correlations in proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The spinning gluon in these collisions will introduce a significant nonzero $\cos(2ϕ)$ asymmetries in both Higgs Boson and top quark pair productions. The genesis of the $\cos(2ϕ)$ correlation lies in the intricate quantum entanglement. Owing to the substantial $\cos(2ϕ)$ effect, the NEEC observable in Higgs Boson and $t{\bar t}$ production emerges as a pivotal avenue for delving into quantum entanglement and scrutinizing the Bell inequality at high-energy colliders.

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arXiv2024

Soft gluon emission at two loops in full color

The soft emission factor is a central ingredient in the factorization of generic $n$-particle gauge theory amplitudes with one soft gluon in the external state. We present the complete two-loop soft factor, capturing the leading power behavior in the soft-gluon momentum. At two loops, the color structure and the kinematic dependence of the soft factor become nontrivial as the soft gluon can couple to three hard partons for the first time (tripole terms). The nontrivial kinematic dependence of the tripole terms is of uniform, maximal transcendental weight, and can be expressed (in a "Euclidean" region) in terms of single-valued harmonic polylogarithms. Our results are consistent with the behavior of the recently computed symbol of the two-loop five-particle amplitude in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory. In the limit where the outgoing soft gluon is also collinear with an incoming hard parton, potentially dangerous factorization-violating terms can arise, but they cancel after summing over colors.

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arXiv2024

TMDs from Semi-inclusive Energy Correlators

We introduce a novel category of observables known as the Semi-Inclusive Energy Correlators (SIECs), an extension of the recently proposed nucleon energy correlator to integrate a new element, the fragmenting energy correlation function. These SIECs gauge the correlation between the examined hadron and the surrounding radiations, providing a comprehensive tomography of the radiative patterns originating from initial state radiation or parton fragmentation. As such, they could function as the generating functions for numerous kinematic distributions. To illustrate, we find a direct relation between the transverse momentum moments (TMMs) of the transverse momentum-dependent (TMD) distributions and the SIECs. We demonstrate how the TMMs of the TMD parton distributions and the fragmentation functions can be distinctively derived from the nucleon energy correlator and the fragmenting energy correlator, respectively, without enforcing the back-to-back kinematics.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Renormalization Group Flows for Track Function Moments

Track functions describe the collective effect of the fragmentation of quarks and gluons into charged hadrons, making them a key ingredient for jet substructure measurements at hadron colliders, where track-based measurements offer superior angular resolution. The first moment of the track function, describing the average energy deposited in charged particles, is a simple and well-studied object. However, measurements of higher-point correlations of energy flow necessitate a characterization of fluctuations in the hadronization process, described theoretically by higher moments of the track function. In this paper we derive the structure of the renormalization group (RG) evolution equations for track function moments. We show that energy conservation gives rise to a shift symmetry that allows the evolution equations to be written in terms of cumulants, $κ(N)$, and the difference between the first moment of quark and gluon track functions, $Δ$. The uniqueness of the first three cumulants then fixes their all-order evolution to be DGLAP, up to corrections involving powers of $Δ$, that are numerically suppressed by an effective order in the perturbative expansion for phenomenological track functions. However, at the fourth cumulant and beyond there is non-trivial RG mixing into products of cumulants such as $κ(4)$ into $κ(2)^2$. We analytically compute the evolution equations up to the sixth moment at $\mathcal{O}(α_s^2)$, and study the associated RG flows. These results allow for the study of up to six-point correlations in energy flow using tracks, paving the way for precision jet substructure at the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Multi-Collinear Splitting Kernels for Track Function Evolution

Jets and their substructure play a central role in many analyses at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). To improve the precision of measurements, as well as to enable measurement of jet substructure at increasingly small angular scales, tracking information is often used due to its superior angular resolution and robustness to pile-up. Calculations of track-based observables involve non-perturbative track functions, that absorb infrared divergences in perturbative calculations and describe the transition to charged hadrons. The infrared divergences are directly related to the renormalization group evolution (RGE), and can be systematically computed in perturbation theory. Unlike the standard DGLAP evolution, the RGE of the track functions is non-linear, encoding correlations in the fragmentation process. We compute the next-to-leading order (NLO) evolution of the track functions, which involves in its kernel the full $1\rightarrow3$ splitting function. We discuss in detail how how we implement the evolution equation numerically, and illustrate the size of the NLO corrections. We also show that our equation can be viewed as a master equation for collinear evolution at NLO, by illustrating that by integrating out specific terms, one can derive the evolution for any $N$-hadron fragmentation function. Our results provide a crucial ingredient for obtaining track-based predictions for generic measurements at the LHC, and for improving the description of the collinear dynamics of jets.

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arXiv2024

Soft Theorem to Three Loops in QCD and ${\cal N} = 4$ Super Yang-Mills Theory

The soft theorem states that scattering amplitude in gauge theory with a soft gauge-boson emission can be factorized into a hard scattering amplitude and a soft factor. In this paper, we present calculations of the soft factor for processes involving two hard colored partons, up to three loops in QCD. To accomplish this, we developed a systematic method for recursively calculating relevant Feynman integrals using the Feynman-Parameter representation. Our results constitute an important ingredient for the subtraction of infrared singularities at N$^4$LO in perturbative QCD. Using the principle of leading transcendentality between QCD and ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory, we determine the soft factor in the latter case to three loops with full-color dependence. As a by-product, we also obtain the finite constant $f_2^{(3)}$ in the Bern-Dixon-Smirnov ansatz analytically, which was previously known numerically only.

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arXiv2023

The Transverse Energy-Energy Correlator at Next-to-Next-to-Next-to-Leading Logarithm

We present an operator based factorization formula for the transverse energy-energy correlator in the back-to-back (dijet) region, and uncover its remarkable perturbative simplicity and relation to transverse momentum dynamics. This simplicity enables us to achieve next-to-next-to-next-to leading logarithmic (N$^3$LL) accuracy for a hadron collider dijet event shape for the first time. Our factorization formula applies to color singlet, $W/Z/γ$ + jet, and dijet production, providing a natural generalization of transverse momentum observables to one- and two-jet final states. This provides a laboratory for precision studies of QCD and transverse momentum dynamics at hadron colliders, as well as an opportunity for understanding factorization and its violation in a perturbatively well controlled setting.

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