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Martin Beneke

Publications and source records attributed to Martin Beneke.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

On the universality of soft emission beyond the next-to-soft order

The Low-Burnett-Kroll theorem (extended to non-abelian gauge theory) states that the tree-level emission amplitude of a soft gauge boson from an arbitrary hard process can be expressed in terms of the non-radiative amplitude including the next-to-soft term. Reformulating the soft theorem in the framework of an on-shell effective theory leads to a natural gauge-invariant split into an external and internal emission process to any order in the soft expansion. In this framework, we derive a compact expression for the all-order external emission amplitude expressed in terms of the non-radiative amplitude, and express the local emission amplitude through a single gauge-invariant operator at every order beyond the next-to-soft one. For scalar QCD, we compare the number of Lorentz- and $SU(3)$-invariant amplitudes for the radiative and non-radiative hard process with an arbitrary number of scalar quarks and antiquarks.

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arXiv2026

One-loop matching of QCD currents to power-suppressed two-jet operators

We compute the matching of QCD quark-antiquark currents onto the set of the two-particle and three-particle two-jet operators in soft-collinear effective theory (SCET) at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the perturbative QCD series, including for the first time operators up to second order in the power expansion in the transverse momentum over energy. These results contribute to the ongoing programme of computing power corrections and summing power-suppressed logarithmically enhanced terms for event shapes in the two-jet region and deep-inelastic scattering in the Bjorken-$x\to 1$ limit. The three-particle operators depend on the partonic momentum fractions of two partons moving into the same direction. When one of the momentum fractions approaches zero, the coefficient functions are shown to satisfy endpoint factorization relations, which allow for a consistent cancellation of endpoint singularities among various terms in the complete factorization formula for power corrections.

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arXiv2026

Quantum correction to the diffusion term in stochastic inflation from composite-operator matching in Soft de Sitter Effective Theory

In the framework of Soft de Sitter Effective Theory (SdSET), the Fokker-Planck equation for the late-time dynamics of the massless minimally coupled scalar field and its extension to the Kramers-Moyal equation are obtained from operator mixing of composite operators of the effective superhorizon field. We construct the formalism for composite-operator renormalisation, mixing and matching in dimensional regularisation, allowing for computations beyond the leading order. The general formalism is illustrated in free SdSET, which already features non-trivial structures including the well-known diffusion coefficient for stochastic inflation. As explicit examples in the interacting theory, we renormalise the one-loop bispectrum and the two-loop one-point function of the composite operator $\varphi_+^2$, and match them onto their full-theory counterparts. These results allow us to determine the next-to-leading order (two-loop) correction to the diffusion term of the Fokker-Planck equation of stochastic inflation for the first time.

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arXiv2026

Renormalisation and matching of massless scalar correlation functions in Soft de Sitter Effective Theory

For light and massless scalar fields, cosmological correlation functions suffer from infrared divergences and secular logarithms. Soft de Sitter Effective Theory (SdSET) has been proposed by Cohen and Green as the effective description of the non-trivial dynamics of long-wavelength modes $k_{\rm phys} < H$ in de Sitter space, which is responsible for the infrared and late-time logarithms, and as a systematic extension of the stochastic approach. In this article, we construct SdSET in dimensional regularisation, including an initial-condition functional. We demonstrate by examples that renormalisation and matching works as for flat-space effective field theories. Adopting massless $\kappa \phi^4$ theory as the UV theory, we match the tree-level trispectrum and six-point function, and the one-loop power spectrum to SdSET, verifying explicitly that SdSET is the appropriate effective field theory for the quantum dynamics of superhorizon modes.

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arXiv2025

Gradient-flowed operator product expansion without IR renormalons

A long-standing problem concerns the question how to consistently combine perturbative expansions in QCD with power corrections in the context of the operator product expansion (OPE), since the former exhibit ambiguities due to infrared renormalons, which are of the same order as the power corrections. We propose to use the gradient flow time $1/\sqrt{t}$ as a factorization scale and to express the OPE in terms of IR renormalon-free subtracted perturbative expansions and unambiguous matrix elements of gradient-flow regularized local operators. We show on the example of the Adler function and its leading power correction from the gluon condensate that this method dramatically improves the convergence of the perturbative expansion. We employ lattice data on the action density to estimate the gradient-flowed gluon condensate, and obtain the Adler function with non-perturbative accuracy and significantly reduced theoretical uncertainty, enlarging the predictivity at low $Q^2$. When applied to the hadronic decay width of the tau lepton, the method resolves the long-standing discrepancy between the fixed-order and contour-improved approach in favour of the fixed-order treatment.

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arXiv2024

Perturbative Unitarity Violation in Radiative Capture Transitions to Dark Matter Bound States

We investigate the formation of bound states of non-relativistic dark matter particles subject to long-range interactions through radiative capture. The initial scattering and final bound states are described by Coulomb potentials with different strengths, as relevant for non-abelian gauge interactions or theories featuring charged scalars. For bound states with generic quantum numbers $n$ and $\ell$, we provide closed-form expressions for the bound-state formation (BSF) cross sections of monopole, dipole and quadrupole transitions, and of arbitrary multipole order when $\ell=n-1$. This allows us to investigate in detail a strong enhancement of BSF that occurs for initial states in a repulsive potential. For $\ell=n-1\gg 1$, we show that the BSF cross section for each single bound state violates the perturbative unitarity bound in the vicinity of a certain critical initial velocity, and provide an interpretation in terms of a smooth matching of classical trajectories. When summing the BSF cross section over all possible bound states in the final state, this leads to a unitarity violation below a certain velocity, but within the validity range of the weakly coupled non-relativistic description. We identify an effectively strong interaction as the origin of this unitarity violation, which is caused by an "anomalously" large overlap of scattering and bound-state wave functions in Coulomb potentials of different strength.

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arXiv2024

Indirect constraints on third generation baryon number violation

The non-observation of baryon number violation suggests that the scale of baryon-number violating interactions at zero temperature is comparable to the GUT scale. However, the pertinent measurements involve hadrons made of the first-generation quarks, such as protons and neutrons. One may therefore entertain the idea that new flavour physics breaks baryon number at a much lower scale, but only in the coupling to a third generation quark, leading to observable baryon-number violating $b$-hadron decay rates. In this paper we show that indirect constraints on the new physics scale $\Lambda_{\rm BNV}$ from the existing bounds on the proton lifetime do not allow for this possibility. For this purpose we consider the three dominant proton decay channels $p \to \ell^+ \nu_\ell \bar{\nu}$, $p \to \pi^+ \bar{\nu}$ and $p \to \pi^0 \ell^+$ mediated by a virtual bottom quark.

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arXiv2024

Renormalization of the next-to-leading-power $\gamma\gamma \to h $ and $gg\to h$ soft quark functions

We calculate directly in position space the one-loop renormalization kernels of the soft operators $O_\gamma$ and $O_g$ that appear in the soft-quark contributions to, respectively, the subleading-power $\gamma\gamma\to h$ and $gg\to h$ form factors mediated by the $b$-quark. We present an IR/rapidity divergence-free definition for $O_g$ and demonstrate that with a correspondent definition of the collinear function, a consistent factorization theorem is recovered. Using conformal symmetry techniques, we establish a relation between the evolution kernels of the leading-twist heavy-light light-ray operator, whose matrix element defines the $B$-meson light-cone distribution amplitude (LCDA), and $O_\gamma$ to all orders in perturbation theory. Application of this relation allows us to bootstrap the kernel of $O_\gamma$ to the two-loop level. We construct an ansatz for the kernel of $O_g$ at higher orders. We test this ansatz against the consistency requirement at two-loop and find they differ only by a particular constant.

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arXiv2024

Enhancement of $p$-wave dark matter annihilation by quasi-bound states

We scrutinize the Sommerfeld enhancement in dark matter pair annihilation for $p$-wave and higher-$\ell$ partial waves. For the Yukawa potential these feature a super-resonant Breit-Wigner peak in their velocity-dependence close to Sommerfeld resonances as well as a universal scaling with velocity for all $\ell\geq 1$ that differs from the $s$-wave case. We provide a quantum mechanical explanation for these phenomena in terms of quasi-bound states sustained by the centrifugal barrier of the partial-wave potential, and give approximate WKB expressions capturing the main effects. The impact of quasi-bound states is exemplified for wino dark matter and models with light mediators, with a focus on indirect detection signals. We note that quasi-bound states can also explain similar peaks in the bound-state formation and self-scattering cross sections.

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arXiv2024

Focus topics for the ECFA study on Higgs / Top / EW factories

In order to stimulate new engagement and trigger some concrete studies in areas where further work would be beneficial towards fully understanding the physics potential of an $e^+e^-$ Higgs / Top / Electroweak factory, we propose to define a set of focus topics. The general reasoning and the proposed topics are described in this document.

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arXiv2023

Cosmological Correlators in massless ${\phi}^4$-theory and the Method of Regions

The calculation of loop corrections to the correlation functions of quantum fields during inflation or in the de~Sitter background presents greater challenges than in flat space due to the more complicated form of the mode functions. While in flat space highly sophisticated approaches to Feynman integrals exist, similar tools still remain to be developed for cosmological correlators. However, usually only their late-time limit is of interest. We introduce the method-of-region expansion for cosmological correlators as a tool to extract the late-time limit, and illustrate it with several examples for the interacting, massless, minimally coupled scalar field in de~Sitter space. In particular, we consider the in-in correlator $\langle\phi^2(\eta,q)\phi(\eta,k_1)\phi(\eta,k_2)\rangle$, whose region structure is relevant to anomalous dimensions and matching coefficients in Soft de Sitter effective theory.

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arXiv2023

Gradient-flow renormalon subtraction and the hadronic tau decay series

The inconsistency between the fixed-order (FO) and contour-improved (CI) representation of the QCD corrections to the inclusive hadronic tau decay width limits the precision to which the strong coupling can be determined from this process. It has recently been shown that subtracting the infrared renormalon divergence related to the gluon condensate resolves the discrepancy. Here we suggest to employ the gradient flow to define gauge-invariant regularized operators and to use the corresponding condensates in the operator product expansion. The associated rearrangement of the perturbative series results in automatic renormalon subtraction without the need to determine explicitly the Stokes constants that normalize the divergent asymptotic series. Applying this method to the gluon condensate, we find that the CI series is modified and now agrees with the (unmodified) FO series. This conclusively demonstrates the preference for the fixed-order approach, as has been advocated long ago.

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arXiv2023

The Inverted Pendulum as a Classical Analog of the EFT Paradigm

The inverted pendulum is a mechanical system with a rapidly oscillating pivot point. Using techniques similar in spirit to the methodology of effective field theories, we derive an effective Lagrangian that allows for the systematic computation of corrections to the so-called Kapitza equation. The derivation of the effective potential of the system requires non-trivial matching conditions, which need to be determined order by order in the power-counting of the problem. The convergence behavior of the series is investigated on the basis of high-order results obtained by this method.

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arXiv2023

QCD Light-Cone Distribution Amplitudes of Heavy Mesons from boosted HQET

Light-cone distribution amplitudes (LCDAs) frequently arise in factorization theorems involving light and heavy mesons. The QCD LCDA for heavy mesons includes short-distance physics at energy scales of the heavy-quark mass. In this paper we achieve the separation of this perturbative scale from the purely hadronic effects by matching the QCD LCDA to the convolution of a perturbative function with the universal, quark-mass independent LCDA defined in heavy-quark effective theory. This factorization allows to resum potentially large logarithms between $\Lambda_{\rm QCD}$ and $m_Q$ as well as between $m_Q$ and the scale $Q$ of the hard process in the production of boosted heavy mesons at colliders. As an application we derive new theoretical predictions for the branching ratio of the decay $W^\pm \to B^\pm \gamma$. Furthermore, we provide phenomenological models for the QCD LCDAs of both the $\bar{B}$ and $D$ mesons expressed as expansions in Gegenbauer polynomials.

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arXiv2022

Soft-collinear gravity with fermionic matter

We extend the effective field theory for soft and collinear gravitons to interactions with fermionic matter fields. The full theory features a local Lorentz symmetry in addition to the usual diffeomorphisms, which requires incorporating the former into the soft-collinear gravity framework. The local Lorentz symmetry gives rise to Wilson lines in the effective theory that strongly resemble those in SCET for non-abelian gauge interactions, whereas the diffeomorphisms can be treated in the same fashion as in the case of scalar matter. The basic structure of soft-collinear gravity, which features a homogeneous soft background field, giving rise to a covariant derivative and multipole-expanded covariant Riemann-tensor interactions, remains unaltered and generalises in a natural way to fermion fields.

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arXiv2022

Electroweak resummation of neutralino dark-matter annihilation into high-energy photons

We consider the resummation of large electroweak Sudakov logarithms for the annihilation of neutralino DM with $\mathcal{O}$(TeV) mass to high-energy photons in the minimal supersymmetric standard model, extending previous work on the minimal wino and Higgsino models. We find that NLL resummation reduces the yield of photons by about $20\%$ for Higgsino-dominated DM at masses around 1~TeV, and up to $45\%$ for neutralinos with larger wino admixture at heavier masses near 3~TeV. This sizable effect is relevant when observations or exclusion limits are translated into MSSM parameter-space constraints.

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arXiv2022

Power-enhanced leading-logarithmic QED corrections to $B_q \to μ^+μ^-$

We provide a systematic treatment of the previously discovered power-enhanced QED corrections to the leptonic decay $B_q\to μ^+μ^-$ ($q = d, s$) in the framework of soft-collinear effective theory (SCET). Employing two-step matching on SCET$_\text{I}$ and SCET$_\text{II}$, and the respective renormalization group equations, we sum the leading-logarithmic QED corrections and the mixed QED-QCD corrections to all orders in the couplings for the matrix element of the semileptonic weak effective operator $\sim Q_9$. We propose a treatment of the $B$-meson decay constant and light-cone distribution amplitude in the presence of process-specific QED corrections. Finally we include ultrasoft photon radiation and provide updated values of the non-radiative and radiative branching fractions of $B_q \to μ^+μ^-$ decay that include the double-logarithmic QED and QCD corrections.

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