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Yan-Qing Ma

Publications and source records attributed to Yan-Qing Ma.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Higgs Boson Pair Production via Gluon Fusion: Higher-Order Corrections and Theoretical Uncertainties

In this contribution, the higher-order QCD and electroweak corrections to Standard Model Higgs boson pair production via the gluon-fusion mechanism, $gg\to hh$, are summarized and the different sources of theoretical uncertainty are assessed. The discussion includes finite top quark mass effects, matching to parton showers, approximate NNLO and N$^3$LO QCD corrections, NLO electroweak effects, and uncertainties associated with the top quark mass scheme and perturbative scale choices. In addition, we provide an updated state-of-the-art recommendation for the inclusive gluon-fusion Higgs boson pair production cross section and the corresponding Higgs boson pair invariant-mass distribution.

hep-ph

AMFlow 2.0: significant algorithmic and software improvements for Feynman integral evaluation

We present significant improvements to the AMFlow package for the numerical computation of dimensionally regularized Feynman integrals. Several new features are introduced to reduce computational cost, including an alternative recursion mode, a high-performance differential equation solver, support for state-of-the-art integration-by-parts reducers and other useful improvements. We benchmark the new version on a three-loop five-point topology and find that both the symbolic and numerical performance are significantly improved.

hep-ph

Feynman integral reduction with intersection theory made simple

Feynman integral reduction based on intersection theory provides an alternative to the traditional integration-by-parts method, yet its practical application has been constrained by the large number of variables required in the computation. In this Letter, we demonstrate that by employing the recently introduced branch representation, the reduction of $L$-loop Feynman integrals with an arbitrary number of external legs can be achieved through the computation of at most $(3L-3)$-variable intersection numbers. This constitutes a significant simplification compared to existing approaches, particularly for multi-leg integrals where the number of variables in conventional methods scales with the total number of propagators. We validate the proposed method through explicit calculations of two-loop diagrams, demonstrating substantial improvements in computational efficiency relative to both traditional intersection-theory approaches and standard integration-by-parts reduction techniques.

hep-th

PRBench: End-to-end Paper Reproduction in Physics Research

AI agents powered by large language models exhibit strong reasoning and problem-solving capabilities, enabling them to assist scientific research tasks such as formula derivation and code generation. However, whether these agents can reliably perform end-to-end reproduction from real scientific papers remains an open question. We introduce PRBench, a benchmark of 30 expert-curated tasks spanning 11 subfields of physics. Each task requires an agent to comprehend the methodology of a published paper, implement the corresponding algorithms from scratch, and produce quantitative results matching the original publication. Agents are provided only with the task instruction and paper content, and operate in a sandboxed execution environment. All tasks are contributed by domain experts from over 20 research groups at the School of Physics, Peking University, each grounded in a real published paper and validated through end-to-end reproduction with verified ground-truth results and detailed scoring rubrics. Using an agentified assessment pipeline, we evaluate a set of coding agents on PRBench and analyze their capabilities across key dimensions of scientific reasoning and execution. The best-performing agent, OpenAI Codex powered by GPT-5.3-Codex, achieves a mean overall score of 34%. All agents exhibit a zero end-to-end callback success rate, with particularly poor performance in data accuracy and code correctness. We further identify systematic failure modes, including errors in formula implementation, inability to debug numerical simulations, and fabrication of output data. Overall, PRBench provides a rigorous benchmark for evaluating progress toward autonomous scientific research.

cs.CL

Triple Differential Heavy-to-light Semi-leptonic Decays at Next-to-Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order in QCD

We report the first complete calculation of the five heavy-to-light hadronic structure functions underlying semi-leptonic heavy-quark decays at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order ($\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$) in perturbative QCD. This theoretical advance, achieved via an innovative hybrid computational strategy, enables precision predictions for triple differential decay rates. The results are essential for harnessing the potential of high-precision experiments at Belle II, BES III, and LHCb. Selected applications of this work include a state-of-the-art prediction for the inclusive $B \to X_u \ell \nu$ width, crucial for a percent-level determination of $|V_{ub}|$, and the first $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$ results for lepton-energy moments in charm decays, vital for extracting $|V_{cs}|$ and $|V_{cd}|$. Our analysis also reveals significant higher-order corrections in the large-$q^2$ region of $b \to u$ transitions, offering new insights into the persistent tension between inclusive and exclusive $|V_{ub}|$ determinations.

hep-ph

Heavy-to-light Structure Functions at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$ in QCD

We present the first complete $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^2)$ and $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$ perturbative QCD corrections to all five heavy-to-light structure functions underlying the triple-differential semi-leptonic decay rates of heavy quarks. This is achieved via a hybrid computational strategy that combines an efficient linear interpolation (with a suitable function basis) based on stratified Gauss-Kronrod points in the leptonic-mass $q^2$ with the differential equations in the other variable, further armed with reduced numerical $\varepsilon$-dependence. Among the selected applications, we highlight the state-of-the-art prediction $\Gamma(B \rightarrow X_u \ell \bar{\nu}_{\ell}) = \frac{|V_{ub}|^2}{|3.82\times 10^{-3}|^2}\,\big( 6.53 \,\pm 0.12 \, \pm 0.13\, \pm 0.03\, \big) \times 10^{-16}\,\text{GeV}\,$ derived in the kinetic-mass scheme. We report several notable observations regarding the convergence of the first three orders of QCD corrections to the $q^2$-spectrum and to inclusive moments of the lepton-energy spectrum in semi-leptonic weak decays of $b$- and $c$-quark in different quark-mass schemes; they are important both for improving the inclusive determinations of the relevant CKM elements, non-perturbative dynamical parameters, and for gaining new insights into the potential impact of high-order QCD corrections. Lastly we discuss a novel interesting point encountered in the consistent perturbative reformulation of the differential $q^2$-spectrum from the pole-mass to other mass schemes: certain boundary-effect terms are identified that are non-vanishing for $b \rightarrow u \ell \bar{\nu}_{\ell}$ firstly at $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$; their incorporation is essential to preserve the integrity of the integrated moments of the perturbatively re-expanded $q^2$-spectrum but necessitates histogramming from $\mathcal{O}(\alpha_s^3)$ onward even within pure perturbation theory.

hep-ph

Mastering Olympiad-Level Physics with Artificial Intelligence

Olympiad-level physics problem-solving significantly challenges both humans and artificial intelligence (AI), as it requires integrating appropriate modeling, application of physical principles, and precise calculation within long reasoning processes. In this paper, we introduce LOCA (LOgical Chain Augmentation), an AI agent framework designed for complex physics reasoning. LOCA decomposes long reasoning into serialized atomic and verifiable steps, refining the solution through an augment-review loop. We evaluate LOCA on the 2025 Chinese Physics Olympiad (CPhO) theory examination, a rigorous testbed renowned for its depth and complexity. The framework achieves a near-perfect score of 313 out of 320 points, significantly surpassing the top human competitor and other baseline methods. Furthermore, LOCA attains a near-perfect score of 28.6 out of 30 on the IPhO 2025 examination, demonstrating its strong generalizability across different contexts. Our work points toward the development of trustworthy AI partners in both research and education.

cs.CL

Compton Scattering Total Cross Section at Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order and Resummation of Leading Logarithms

Compton scattering is a fundamental process in QED with broad applications, yet its theoretical description at high energies is challenged by substantial next-to-leading order (NLO) corrections arising from double-logarithmic enhancements. To address this, we report the first calculation of the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) total cross section with full electron mass dependence. Our analysis reveals that the NNLO correction, albeit still containing double logarithms, is numerically small due to a suppressing prefactor. By identifying the origin of these logarithms in a kinematic regime featuring a Glauber electron exchange, we successfully resum the leading logarithmic series to all orders, obtaining a compact result in terms of a modified Bessel function. The all-order structure reveals a suppression mechanism, with double factorial terms in the denominator, which explains the negligible nature of higher-order contributions. The combination of our NNLO calculation and all-orders resummation delivers a reliable and precise prediction, poised to serve the needs of high-precision experiments in the foreseeable future.

hep-ph

Two-loop QCD-corrections to $e^{+} e^{-} \rightarrow Z^{\ast} \rightarrow \boldsymbol{J /\psi}+\boldsymbol{J/ \psi}$

We present a next-to-next-to-leading-order calculation within the nonrelativistic QCD framework for the process of $e^{+}e^{-} \rightarrow Z^{\ast} \rightarrow J/\psi+J/\psi$ . We find that the NNLO contribution is 2-3 times larger than the next-to-leading-order contribution, which itself is already 3-5 times larger than the leading-order result. In the high-energy limit, we provide analytic expressions for the leading-power coefficients in the asymptotic expansion of the two-loop amplitudes. Our results are directly applicable to the bottomonium process $Z^{\ast} \rightarrow \Upsilon+\Upsilon$. Using the obtained hadronic amplitudes, we predict the decay width of the $Z$ boson into these rare di-charmonium and di-bottomonium final states.

hep-ph

Symbolic Reduction of Multi-loop Feynman Integrals via Generating Functions

We introduce a novel, systematic method for the complete symbolic reduction of multi-loop Feynman integrals, leveraging the power of generating functions. The differential equations governing these generating functions naturally yield symbolic recurrence relations. We develop an efficient algorithm that utilizes these recurrences to reduce integrals to a minimal set of master integrals. This approach circumvents the exponential growth of traditional integration-by-parts relations, enabling the reduction of high-rank, multi-loop integrals critical for state-of-the-art calculations in perturbative quantum field theory.

hep-ph

LOCA: Logical Chain Augmentation for Scientific Corpus Cleaning

While Large Language Models (LLMs) excel in general domains, their reliability often falls short in scientific problem-solving. The advancement of scientific AI depends on large-scale, high-quality corpora. However, existing scientific question-answering (QA) datasets suffer from high error rates, frequently resulting from logical leaps and implicit reasoning within the answers. To address this issue, we introduce LOCA (Logical Chain Augmentation), a novel framework for automatically cleaning scientific corpora, implemented through an augment-and-review loop. At its core, LOCA enhances raw answers by completing missing logical steps and explicitly separating the underlying scientific principle from its subsequent derivation. By applying LOCA to challenging scientific corpora, we demonstrate that it can automatically filter noisy datasets, typically reducing the error rate from as high as 20\% to below 2\%. LOCA provides a scalable and effective methodology for creating high-quality scientific corpora, paving the way for more reliable training and evaluation of scientific AI.

cs.CL

Analytical two-loop amplitudes of $e^{+} e^{-} \longrightarrow \boldsymbol{J} / \boldsymbol{\psi}+\boldsymbol{\eta}_c$ at $B$ factories

In double charmonium production, a long-standing challenge is that the theoretical predictions are not consistent with the measurements at B factories. Within the NRQCD framework, the next-to-leading order (NLO) calculation has proved its power to cut down the discrepancy between theory and experiments. To further clarify this puzzle, we have performed the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculation. The amplitude is obtained as an analytical asymptotic expansion in the ratio of the squared charm-quark mass over the squared center-of-mass energy, $m_c^2/s$. We investigate the origin of the leading logarithms by performing a region analysis, revealing the intricate factorization structure in this process. We provide numerical predictions on the total cross sections of $J/\psi+\eta_c$ production, which agree with the experimental results. Extension of our computation to $\Upsilon+\eta_b$ production is also discussed.

hep-ph

Electroweak loop corrections to $gg\to gH$ at the LHC

We present the results of the complete electroweak loop corrections to the process $ gg \to gH $ at the Large Hadron Collider. The electroweak corrections to the total cross section are found to be approximately $ +4\% $. At the differential level, the corrections exceed $ +4\% $ in the low Higgs transverse momentum region and fall below $ -4\% $ in the high transverse momentum region, leading to a noticeable shape distortion for this distribution. Our results represent a necessary step towards to complete next-to-leading order electroweak correction of the Higgs + jet process.

hep-ph

Reduction of $\epsilon$-expanded Feynman integrals

Since Feynman integrals (FIs) at higher spacetime dimensions are free of infrared and collinear divergence--and their ultraviolet divergences can be systematically subtracted--this allows us to construct a wide range of locally finite Feynman integrals. Especially, we propose a method named $\bar{R}$-operation to subtract out ultraviolet divergences that at the same time preserves infrared and collinear safety of the original FI. By expressing these locally finite FIs in terms of master integrals and imposing constraints on their $\epsilon$-expanded forms, we reduce the $\epsilon$-expanded master integrals to a minimal basis. We provide an automated package to identify such constraints, offering a tool useful for high-order perturbative computations.

hep-ph

AI-Newton: A Concept-Driven Physical Law Discovery System without Prior Physical Knowledge

While current AI-driven methods excel at deriving empirical models from individual experiments, a significant challenge remains in uncovering the common fundamental physics that underlie these models -- a task at which human physicists are adept. To bridge this gap, we introduce AI-Newton, a novel framework for concept-driven scientific discovery. Our system autonomously derives general physical laws directly from raw, multi-experiment data, operating without supervision or prior physical knowledge. Its core innovations are twofold: (1) proposing interpretable physical concepts to construct laws, and (2) progressively generalizing these laws to broader domains. Applied to a large, noisy dataset of mechanics experiments, AI-Newton successfully rediscovers foundational and universal laws, such as Newton's second law, the conservation of energy, and the universal gravitation. This work represents a significant advance toward autonomous, human-like scientific discovery.

cs.AI

Tame multi-leg Feynman integrals beyond one loop

We introduce a novel structure for Feynman integrals, reformulating them as integrals over a small set of parameters with a fully controllable integrand. The integrand closely resembles one-loop Feynman integrals, and they are very easy to handle. Remarkably, the number of remaining integration parameters is independent of the number of external legs and small -- at most 2 for two-loop integrals and 5 for three-loop integrals -- facilitating the application of a wide range of established methods, both specific to Feynman integrals and more general techniques. This approach is expected to mitigate the computational challenges of multi-loop, multi-leg Feynman integrals. As a proof of concept, we successfully computed two-loop non-planar Feynman integrals with six external legs, demonstrating high efficiency.

hep-ph

Efficient Computation of One-Loop Feynman Integrals and Fixed-Branch Integrals to High Orders in $\epsilon$

We propose a novel method, called the dimension-changing transformation (DCT), to compute one-loop Feynman integrals and recently introduced fixed-branch integrals to arbitrary orders in $\epsilon$. The DCT relates one-loop Feynman integrals or fixed-branch integrals in one spacetime dimension to their corresponding quantities with auxiliary mass in any other dimension, making the expansion to high orders in $\epsilon$ highly efficient. We applied this method to several examples to demonstrate its validity and efficiency. The approach introduced in this work has been implemented in an open-source C++ package, available at \href{https://gitlab.com/multiloop-pku/dct}{https://gitlab.com/multiloop-pku/dct}.

hep-ph

Determination of the Strong Coupling Constant $\alpha_s$ from Inclusive Semi-leptonic $B$ Meson Decays

We demonstrate the feasibility of determining the strong coupling constant, $\alpha_s$, from the inclusive semileptonic decay width of $B$ mesons. We express the semileptonic $B$ decay width as a function of $\alpha_s(5\mathrm{\,GeV})$, the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $|V_{cb}|$, $b$- and $c$-quark masses in the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ scheme. We fit $\alpha_s(5\mathrm{\,GeV})$ to current world averages of the $B^{\pm}$ and $B^{0}$ semileptonic decay widths. This yields $\alpha_s(5\mathrm{\,GeV}) = 0.245 \pm 0.009$, corresponding to a 5-flavor extrapolation of $\alpha_s(m_{Z}) = 0.1266 \pm 0.0023$. The primary uncertainty contributions arise from the uncertainty on the perturbative expansion and the value of $|V_{cb}|$. Future advancements including higher-order perturbative calculations, and precise measurements of $|V_{cb}|$ and $B$ decay widths from upcoming $B$ and $Z$ factories, could enable this method to determine $\alpha_s(m_{Z})$ with a competitive precision of $\Delta\alpha_s(m_{Z}) \sim 0.0018$. This precision is comparable to the current accuracy of $\alpha_s(m_{Z})$ measurements from $\tau$-lepton decays, which is regarded as the most precise experimental approach.

hep-ph