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In this paper we discuss the geometric integrand expansion of the five-point Wilson loop with one Lagrangian insertion in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We construct the integrand corresponding to an all-loop class of ladder-type geometries. We then investigate the known two-loop observable from this geometric viewpoint. To do so, we evaluate analytically the new two-loop integrals corresponding to the negative geometry contribution, using the canonical differential equations method. Inspecting the analytic result, we present numerical evidence that in this decomposition, each piece has uniform sign properties, when evaluated in the Amplituhedron region. Finally, we present an alternative bootstrap approach for the ladder-type geometries. We find that certain minimal bootstrap assumptions can be satisfied at two loops, but lead to a contradiction at three loops. This suggests to us that novel alphabet letters are required at this loop order. Indeed studying planar three-loop Feynman integrals, we do identify novel pentagon alphabet letters., Comment: 55 pages+ appendices, 7 figures

We consider the complete set of planar two-loop five-point Feynman integrals with two off-shell external legs. These integrals are relevant, for instance, for the calculation of the second-order QCD corrections to the production of two heavy vector bosons in association with a jet or a photon at a hadron collider. We construct pure bases for these integrals and reconstruct their analytic differential equations in canonical form through numerical sampling over finite fields. The newly identified symbol alphabet, one of the most complex to date, provides valuable data for bootstrap methods. We then apply our results to initiate the study of double Lagrangian insertions in a four-cusp Wilson loop in planar maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, computing it through two loops. We observe that it is finite, conformally invariant in four dimensions, and of uniform transcendentality. Furthermore, we provide numerical evidence for its positivity within the amplituhedron region through two loops., Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, 2 appendices, ancillary files at https://zenodo.org/records/13254698

We present a compact formula, expressed in terms of classical polylogarithms up to weight three, for the leading order four-point energy correlator in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, in the limit where the four detectors are collinear. This formula is derived by combining a simplified, manifestly dual conformal invariant form of the 1 -> 4 splitting function obtained from the square of the tree-level five-particle form factor of stress-tensor multiplet operators, with a novel integration-by-parts algorithm operating directly on Feynman parameter integrals. Our results provide valuable data for exploring the structure of physical observables in perturbation theory, and for calculations of jet substructure observables in quantum chromodynamics., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

We compute the complete set of two-loop master integrals for the scattering of four massless particles and a massive one. Our results are ready for phenomenological applications, removing a major obstacle to the computation of complete next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to processes such as the production of a $H/Z/W$ boson in association with two jets at the LHC. Furthermore, they open the door to new investigations into the structure of quantum-field theories and provide precious analytic data for studying the mathematical properties of Feynman integrals., Comment: Ancillary files can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8085740 ; v2 (published version): added appendix describing the analytic continuation across logarithmic singularities within the physical region

Conformal symmetry underlies many massless quantum field theories, but little is known about the consequences of this powerful symmetry for on-shell scattering amplitudes. Working in a dimensionally-regularised $\phi^3$ model at the conformal fixed point, we show that the on-shell renormalised amplitudes satisfy anomalous conformal Ward identities. Each external on-shell state contributes two terms to the anomaly. The first term is proportional to the elementary field anomalous dimension, and thus involves only lower-loop information. We show that the second term can be given as the convolution of a universal collinear function and lower-order amplitudes. The computation of the conformal anomaly is therefore simpler than that of the amplitude at the same perturbative order, which gives our anomalous conformal Ward identities a strong predictive power in perturbation theory. Finally, we show that our result is also of practical importance for dimensionally-regularised amplitudes away from the conformal fixed point., Comment: 31 pages + 5 appendices, 7 figures. v2: references added, improved presentation in section 3.5. v3: improved presentation

We compute the two-loop result for the null pentagonal Wilson loop with a Lagrangian insertion (normalized by the Wilson loop without insertion) in planar, maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. This finite observable is closely related to the Amplituhedron, and it is reminiscent of finite parts of planar two-loop five-particle scattering amplitudes. We verify that, up to this loop order, the leading singularities are given by the same conformally invariant expressions that appear in all-plus pure Yang-Mills amplitudes. The accompanying weight-four transcendental functions are expressed in terms of the pentagon functions space known from planar two-loop five-particle amplitudes, but interestingly only a subset of the functions appears. Being a function of four dimensionless variables, the observable has interesting asymptotic limits. We verify that our analytic result is consistent with soft and collinear limits, and find an intriguingly simple pattern in the multi-Regge limit. Thanks to the new result we can also conjecturally predict, for general kinematics, the maximal weight piece of the planar three-loop five-particle all-plus amplitude in pure Yang-Mills theory. Motivated by the Amplituhedron geometry, we investigate positivity properties of the integrated answer. Generalizing previous results at four particles, we find numerical evidence that the two-loop five-particle result has uniform sign in a kinematic region suggested by the loop Amplituhedron., Comment: 30 pages + appendix, 4 figures

We discuss the properties of scattering amplitudes in a conformal bi-scalar fishnet theory that previously appeared in the study of integrable deformations of $\mathcal N=4$ SYM. In distinction with the latter theory, the scattering amplitudes in the conformal fishnet theory do not suffer from infrared divergences and possess enhanced symmetries. We demonstrate that for the simplest four-particle scattering the single- and double-trace partial amplitudes can be computed for arbitrary coupling in the leading color approximation. We also review the invariance of single-trace components of multi-particle fishnet amplitudes in the leading color limit under infinite-dimensional Yangian symmetry., Comment: 25 pages, see also the overview article

This is an introduction to, and invitation to read, a series of review articles on scattering amplitudes in gauge theory, gravity, and superstring theory. Our aim is to provide an overview of the field, from basic aspects to a selection of current (2022) research and developments., Comment: 15 pages, overview article. v3: journal version

Null Wilson loops in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills are dual to planar scattering amplitudes. This duality implies hidden symmetries for both objects. We consider closely related infrared finite observables, defined as the Wilson loop with a Lagrangian insertion, normalized by the Wilson loop itself. Unlike ratio and remainder functions studied in the literature, this observable is non-trivial already for four scattered particles and bears close resemblance to (finite parts of) scattering processes in non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. We study the general structure of the Wilson loop with a Lagrangian insertion, focusing in particular on its leading singularities and their (hidden) symmetry properties. We find evidence that the leading singularities can be written as certain Grassmannian integrals. The latter are manifestly dual conformal. They also have a conformal symmetry, up to total derivatives. We find that, surprisingly, the conformal symmetry becomes an invariance in the frame where the Lagrangian insertion point is sent to infinity. Furthermore, we use integrability methods to study how higher Yangian charges act on the Grassmannian integral. We evaluate the $n$-particle observable both at tree- and at one-loop level, finding compact analytic formulas. These results are explicitly written in the form of conformal leading singularities, multiplied by transcendental functions. We then compare these formulas to known expressions for all-plus amplitudes in pure Yang-Mills theory. We find a remarkable new connection: the Wilson loop with Lagrangian insertion in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills appears to predict the maximal weight terms of the planar pure Yang-Mills all-plus amplitude. We test this relationship for the two-loop $n$-point Yang-Mills amplitude, as well as for the three-loop four-point amplitude., Comment: 36 pages + Appendices, 5 figures

We present analytic results for all planar two-loop Feynman integrals contributing to five-particle scattering amplitudes with one external massive leg. We express the integrals in terms of a basis of algebraically-independent transcendental functions, which we call one-mass pentagon functions. We construct them by using the properties of iterated integrals with logarithmic kernels. The pentagon functions are manifestly free of unphysical branch cuts, do not require analytic continuation, and can be readily evaluated over the whole physical phase space of the massive particle production channel. We develop an efficient algorithm for their numerical evaluation and present a public implementation suitable for direct phenomenological applications., Comment: 33 pages + 13 appendix pages, 3 figures. v2: minor text changes, matches the published version

We present an analytic computation of the gluon-initiated contribution to diphoton plus jet production at hadron colliders up to two loops in QCD. We reconstruct the analytic form of the finite remainders from numerical evaluations over finite fields including all colour contributions. Compact expressions are found using the pentagon function basis. We provide a fast and stable implementation for the colour- and helicity-summed interference between the one-loop and two-loop finite remainders in C++ as part of the NJet library., Comment: 27 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables

We initiate the study of cluster algebras in Feynman integrals in dimensional regularization. We provide evidence that four-point Feynman integrals with one off-shell leg are described by a $C_{2}$ cluster algebra, and we find cluster adjacency relations that restrict the allowed function space. By embedding $C_{2}$ inside the $A_3$ cluster algebra, we identify these adjacencies with the extended Steinmann relations for six-particle massless scattering. The cluster algebra connection we find restricts the functions space for vector boson or Higgs plus jet amplitudes, and for form factors recently considered in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills. We explain general procedures for studying relationships between alphabets of generalized polylogarithmic functions and cluster algebras, and use them to provide various identifications of one-loop alphabets with cluster algebras. In particular, we show how one can obtain one-loop alphabets for five-particle scattering from a recently discussed dual conformal eight-particle alphabet related to the $G(4,8)$ cluster algebra., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

We complete the analytic calculation of the full set of two-loop Feynman integrals required for computation of massless five-particle scattering amplitudes. We employ the method of canonical differential equations to construct a minimal basis set of transcendental functions, pentagon functions, which is sufficient to express all planar and nonplanar massless five-point two-loop Feynman integrals in the whole physical phase space. We find analytic expressions for pentagon functions which are manifestly free of unphysical branch cuts. We present a public library for numerical evaluation of pentagon functions suitable for immediate phenomenological applications., Comment: 50 pages, 4 figures; v2: updated references and minor text changes, matches the published version; v3: fixed minor typo in equation (3.2); analytic results at https://gitlab.com/pentagon-functions/PentagonMI ; C++ code at https://gitlab.com/pentagon-functions/PentagonFunctions-cpp

We study the conformal properties of pseudo-scalar (parity-odd) operators in four-dimensional field theory. Such operators include the topological term in a gauge theory and the Yukawa coupling. We show that a single operator of this type cannot be a conformal primary on its own. This is only possible for certain mixtures of pseudo-scalar operators like the chiral Lagrangian of ${\cal N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory. We examine the detailed mechanism of conformal symmetry breakdown and derive an anomalous conformal Ward identity. We explore a possible link between this conformal anomaly and the axial anomaly., Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures

In previous work, the two-loop five-point amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory and $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity were computed at symbol level. In this paper, we compute the full functional form. The amplitudes are assembled and simplified using the analytic expressions of the two-loop pentagon integrals in the physical scattering region. We provide the explicit functional expressions, and a numerical reference point in the scattering region. We then calculate the multi-Regge limit of both amplitudes. The result is written in terms of an explicit transcendental function basis. For certain non-planar colour structures of the $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills amplitude, we perform an independent calculation based on the BFKL effective theory. We find perfect agreement. We comment on the analytic properties of the amplitudes., Comment: 60 pages, 4 figures; v2: typos corrected, functional expressions of the hard functions provided

We initiate a systematic study of the consequences of (super)conformal symmetry of massless scattering amplitudes. The classical symmetry is potentially broken at the quantum level by infrared and ultraviolet effects. We study its manifestations on the finite hard part of the scattering process. The conformal Ward identities in momentum space are second-order differential equations, difficult to analyze. We prefer to study superconformal symmetry whose generators are first-order in the momenta. Working in a massless N=1 supersymmetric Wess-Zumino model, we derive on-shell superconformal Ward identities. They contain an anomaly due to collinear regions of loop momenta. It is given by an integral with one loop less than the original graph, with an extra integral over a collinear splitting parameter. We discuss the relation to the holomorphic anomaly that was previously studied in tree-level amplitudes and at the level of unitarity cuts. We derive and solve Ward identities for various scattering processes in the model. We classify the on-shell superamplitudes according to their Grassmann degree, in close analogy with the helicity classification of gluon amplitudes. We focus on MHV-like and NMHV-like amplitudes with up to six external particles, at one and two loops. Interestingly, the superconformal generator acting on the bosonic part of the amplitudes is Witten's twistor collinearity operator. We find that the first-order differential equations, together with physically motivated boundary conditions, uniquely fix the answer. All the cases considered give rise to uniform weight functions. Our most interesting example is a five-point non-planar hexa-box integral with an off-shell leg. It gives first indications on the function space needed for Higgs plus two jet production at next-to-next-to leading order., Comment: 54 pages, 15 figures

We obtain all planar four-point correlators of half-BPS operators in $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM up to five loops. The ansatz for the integrand is fixed partially by imposing light-cone OPE relations between different correlators. We then fix the integrated correlators by comparing their asymptotic expansions with simple data obtained from integrability. We extract OPE coefficients and find a prediction for the triple wrapping correction of the hexagon form factors, which contributes already at the five-loop order., Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures; ancillary files with results. v2: Published version and corrected typo in triple wrapping result. v3: Corrected error in citations from v2

Recently, Bern et al observed that a certain class of next-to-planar Feynman integrals possess a bonus symmetry that is closely related to dual conformal symmetry. It corresponds to a projection of the latter along a certain lightlike direction. Previous studies were performed at the level of the loop integrand, and a Ward identity for the integral was formulated. We investigate the implications of the symmetry at the level of the integrated quantities. In particular, we focus on the phenomenologically important case of five-particle scattering. The symmetry simplifies the four-variable problem to a three-variable one. In the context of the recently proposed space of pentagon functions, the symmetry is much stronger. We find that it drastically reduces the allowed function space, leading to a well-known space of three-variable functions. Furthermore, we show how to use the symmetry in the presence of infrared divergences, where one obtains an anomalous Ward identity. We verify that the Ward identity is satisfied by the leading and subleading poles of several nontrivial five-particle integrals. Finally, we present examples of integrals that possess both ordinary and dual conformal symmetry., Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures; typos corrected

We consider finite superamplitudes of N=1 matter, and use superconformal symmetry to derive powerful first-order differential equations for them. Due to on-shell collinear singularities, the Ward identities have an anomaly, which is obtained from lower-loop information. We show that in the five-particle case, the solution to the equations is uniquely fixed by the expected analytic behavior. We apply the method to a non-planar two-loop five-particle integral., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 3 ancillary files

In PRL 116 (2016) no.6, 062001, the space of planar pentagon functions that describes all two-loop on-shell five-particle scattering amplitudes was introduced. In the present paper we present a natural extension of this space to non-planar pentagon functions. This provides the basis for our pentagon bootstrap program. We classify the relevant functions up to weight four, which is relevant for two-loop scattering amplitudes. We constrain the first entry of the symbol of the functions using information on branch cuts. Drawing on an analogy from the planar case, we introduce a conjectural second-entry condition on the symbol. We then show that the information on the function space, when complemented with some additional insights, can be used to efficiently bootstrap individual Feynman integrals. The extra information is read off of Mellin-Barnes representations of the integrals, either by evaluating simple asymptotic limits, or by taking discontinuities in the kinematic variables. We use this method to evaluate the symbols of two non-trivial non-planar five-particle integrals, up to and including the finite part., Comment: 24 pages + 3 pages of appendices, 2 figures, 3 tables, 4 ancillary files, added references and corrected typos, published version

We reveal a new mechanism of conformal symmetry breaking at Born level. It occurs in generalized form factors with several local operators and an on-shell state of massless particles. The effect is due to hidden singularities on collinear configurations of the momenta. This conformal anomaly is different from the holomorphic anomaly of amplitudes. We present a number of examples in four and six dimensions. We find an application of the new conformal anomaly to finite loop momentum integrals with one or more massless legs. The collinear region around a massless leg creates a contact anomaly, made visible by the loop integration. The anomalous conformal Ward identity for an $\ell-$loop integral is a 2nd-order differential equation whose right-hand side is an $(\ell-1)-$loop integral. We show several examples, in particular the four-dimensional scalar double box., Comment: 36 pages, 9 figures; reference added, typos corrected

Various classes of fishnet Feynman graphs are shown to feature a Yangian symmetry over the conformal algebra. We explicitly discuss scalar graphs in three, four and six spacetime dimensions as well as the inclusion of fermions in four dimensions. The Yangian symmetry results in novel differential equations for these families of largely unsolved Feynman integrals. Notably, the considered fishnet graphs in three and four dimensions dominate the correlation functions and scattering amplitudes in specific double scaling limits of planar, gamma-twisted N=4 super Yang-Mills or ABJM theory. Consequently, the study of fishnet graphs allows us to get deep insights into the integrability of the planar AdS/CFT correspondence., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

We establish an all-loop conformal Yangian symmetry for the full set of planar amplitudes in the recently proposed integrable bi-scalar field theory in four dimensions. This chiral theory is a particular double scaling limit of gamma-twisted weakly coupled N=4 SYM theory. Each amplitude with a certain order of scalar particles is given by a single fishnet Feynman graph of disc topology cut out of a regular square lattice. The Yangian can be realized by the action of a product of Lax operators with a specific sequence of inhomogeneity parameters on the boundary of the disc. Based on this observation, the Yangian generators of level one for generic bi-scalar amplitudes are explicitly constructed. Finally, we comment on the relation to the dual conformal symmetry of these scattering amplitudes., Comment: 40 pages, 20 figures

We find a new duality for form factors of lightlike Wilson loops in planar $\mathcal N=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory. The duality maps a form factor involving an $n$-sided lightlike polygonal super-Wilson loop together with $m$ external on-shell states, to the same type of object but with the edges of the Wilson loop and the external states swapping roles. This relation can essentially be seen graphically in Lorentz harmonic chiral (LHC) superspace where it is equivalent to planar graph duality. However there are some crucial subtleties with the cancellation of spurious poles due to the gauge fixing. They are resolved by finding the correct formulation of the Wilson loop and by careful analytic continuation from Minkowski to Euclidean space. We illustrate all of these subtleties explicitly in the simplest non-trivial NMHV-like case., Comment: 38 pages, 4 figures

We construct the most general composite operators of N = 4 SYM in Lorentz harmonic chiral ($\approx$ twistor) superspace. The operators are built from the SYM supercurvature which is nonpolynomial in the chiral gauge prepotentials. We reconstruct the full nonchiral dependence of the supercurvature. We compute all tree-level MHV form factors via the LSZ redcution procedure with on-shell states made of the same supercurvature., Comment: 32 pages

We explain some details of the construction of composite operators in N=4 SYM that we have elaborated earlier in the context of Lorentz harmonic chiral (LHC) superspace. We give a step-by-step elementary derivation and show that the result coincides with the recent hypothesis put forward in arXiv:1603.04471 within the twistor approach. We provide the appropriate LHC-to-twistors dictionary., Comment: 10 pages

We study the multipoint super-correlation functions of the full non-chiral stress-tensor multiplet in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory in the Born approximation. We derive effective supergraph Feynman rules for them. Surprisingly, the Feynman rules for the non-chiral correlators are obtained from those for the chiral correlators by a simple Grassmann shift of the space-time variables. We rely on the formulation of the theory in Lorentz harmonic chiral (LHC) superspace elaborated in the twin paper arXiv:1601.06803. In this approach only the chiral half of the supersymmetry is manifest. The other half is realized by nonlinear and nonlocal transformations of the LHC superfields. However, at Born level only the simple linear part of the transformations is relevant. It corresponds to effectively working in the self-dual sector of the theory. Our method is also applicable to a wider class of supermultiplets like all the half-BPS operators and the Konishi multiplet., Comment: 66 pages, 16 figures; v2: Appendix F on the quantization in a Lorentz-covariant gauge added

We present a formulation of the maximally supersymmetric N=4 gauge theory in Lorentz harmonic chiral (LHC) superspace. It is closely related to the twistor formulation of the theory but employs the simpler notion of Lorentz harmonic variables. They parametrize a two-sphere and allow us to handle efficiently infinite towers of higher-spin auxiliary fields defined on ordinary space-time. In this approach the chiral half of N=4 supersymmetry is manifest. The other half is realized non-linearly and the algebra closes on shell. We give a straightforward derivation of the Feynman rules in coordinate space. We show that the LHC formulation of the N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory is remarkably similar to the harmonic superspace formulation of the N=2 gauge and hypermultiplet matter theories. In the twin paper arXiv:1601.06804 we apply the LHC formalism to the study of the non-chiral multipoint correlation functions of the N=4 stress-tensor supermultiplet., Comment: 51 pages, 4 figures; v2: Appendix B on the propagators in momentum space added. A more detailed comparison with the twistor approach given in Appendix C

We obtain the planar correlation function of four half-BPS operators of arbitrary weights, up to three loops. Our method exploits only elementary properties of the integrand of the planar correlator, such as its symmetries and singularity structure. This allows us to write down a general ansatz for the integrand. The coefficients in the ansatz are fixed by means of a powerful light-cone OPE relation between correlators with different weights. Our result is formulated in terms of a limited number of functions built from known one-, two- and three-loop conformal integrals. These results are useful for checking recent integrability predictions for the OPE structure constants., Comment: 42 pages, 2 figures

We describe a new approach to computing the chiral part of correlation functions of stress-tensor supermultiplets in N=4 SYM that relies on symmetries, analytic properties and the structure of the OPE only. We demonstrate that the correlation functions are given by a linear combination of chiral N=4 superconformal invariants accompanied by coefficient functions depending on the space-time coordinates only. We present the explicit construction of these invariants and show that the six-point correlation function is fixed in the Born approximation up to four constant coefficients by its symmetries. In addition, the known asymptotic structure of the correlation function in the light-like limit fixes unambiguously these coefficients up to an overall normalization. We demonstrate that the same approach can be applied to obtain a representation for the six-point NMHV amplitude that is free from any auxiliary gauge fixing parameters, does not involve spurious poles and manifests half of the dual superconformal symmetry., Comment: LaTeX, 22 pages

We start from known solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation with a spectral parameter defined on the tensor product of two infinite-dimensional principal series representations of the group $\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{C})$ or Faddeev's modular double. Then we describe its restriction to an irreducible finite-dimensional representation in one or both spaces. In this way we obtain very simple explicit formulas embracing rational and trigonometric finite-dimensional solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation. Finally, we construct these finite-dimensional solutions by means of the fusion procedure and find a nice agreement between two approaches.

We calculate the four-point correlation function of half-BPS operators with weights 2, 3, 3, 4 in N=4 SYM to two-loop order. The OPE of this correlation function provides a nontrivial check of the integrability conjecture for a class of three-point functions formulated in arXiv:1311.6404. Our perturbative calculation exploits the supergraph formalism in N=2 harmonic superspace., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures