Analytic NNLO QCD corrections to top quark pair production in electron-positron collisions

TL;DR

This paper derives an analytic expression for the total cross section of top quark pair production in electron-positron collisions at NNLO in QCD, using advanced mathematical techniques to improve precision for future collider experiments.

Contribution

It provides the first analytic NNLO QCD corrections expressed with polylogarithms and elliptic functions, enhancing theoretical predictions for top quark production.

Findings

Analytic NNLO corrections expressed in special functions.

Asymptotic expansions near threshold and high energy.

Numerical results for future collider energies.

Abstract

We present the analytic total cross section of top quark pair production in electron-positron annihilation at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). By utilizing the optical theorem, the NNLO corrections are related to the imaginary parts of three-loop self-energy Feynman diagrams, of which the master integrals are calculated with canonical differential equations. The analytic results for the NNLO corrections are expressed in terms of multiple polylogarithms as well as elliptic functions. We discuss the asymptotic expansions near the threshold and in the high energy limit in detail. Numerical results are provided for the total cross section of top quark pair production at future lepton colliders.