Calculation of the Two-Loop Heavy-Flavor Contribution to Bhabha Scattering

TL;DR

This paper presents a detailed calculation of two-loop quantum electrodynamics corrections to Bhabha scattering caused by heavy fermions, providing a closed-form analytical expression valid across various mass and energy scales.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method that removes one mass scale from the complex calculation, enabling a general analytical solution for heavy-flavor two-loop corrections in Bhabha scattering.

Findings

Derived a closed-form analytical expression for two-loop heavy-flavor corrections.

The correction formula is valid for arbitrary heavy fermion masses and Mandelstam invariants.

The approach simplifies complex calculations in quantum electrodynamics involving heavy fermions.

Abstract

We describe in detail the calculation of the two-loop corrections to the QED Bhabha scattering cross section due to the vacuum polarization by heavy fermions. Our approach eliminates one mass scale from the most challenging part of the calculation and allows us to obtain the corrections in a closed analytical form. The result is valid for arbitrary values of the heavy fermion mass and the Mandelstam invariants, as long as s,t,u >> m_e^2.