Two-Loop Planar Corrections to Heavy-Quark Pair Production in the Quark-Antiquark Channel

TL;DR

This paper computes the two-loop planar QCD corrections for heavy-quark pair production in quark-antiquark annihilation, providing an analytic expression valid for any kinematic and mass parameters, advancing precision in theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It presents the first complete analytic calculation of the leading color coefficient at two loops for heavy-quark production in the quark-antiquark channel, using harmonic polylogarithms.

Findings

Analytic form valid for arbitrary s, t, and m.

Results agree with small-mass limit and numerical checks.

Enhances precision of QCD predictions for heavy-quark production.

Abstract

We evaluate the planar two-loop QCD diagrams contributing to the leading color coefficient of the heavy-quark pair production cross section, in the quark-antiquark annihilation channel. We obtain the leading color coefficient in an analytic form, in terms of one- and two-dimensional harmonic polylogarithms of maximal weight 4. The result is valid for arbitrary values of the Mandelstam invariants s and t, and of the heavy-quark mass m. Our findings agree with previous analytic results in the small-mass limit and numerical results for the exact amplitude.