The triple collinear limit of one-loop QCD amplitudes

Abstract

We consider the singular behaviour of one-loop QCD matrix elements when several external partons become simultaneously parallel. We present a new factorization formula that describes the singular collinear behaviour directly in colour space. The collinear singularities are embodied in process-independent splitting matrices that depend on the momenta, flavours, spins and colours of the collinear partons. We give the general structure of the infrared and ultraviolet divergences of the one-loop splitting matrices. We also present explicit one-loop results for the triple collinear splitting, $q \to q {\bar Q} Q$, of a quark and a quark--antiquark pair of different flavours. The one-loop triple collinear splitting is one of the ingredients that can be used to compute the evolution of parton distributions at the next-to-next-to-leading order in QCD perturbation theory.

Figures (1)

• Figure 1: One-loop diagrams contributing to the antisymmetric component of the splitting matrix ${{\hbox{\boldmath $Sp$}}}_{q_1 \bar{Q}_2 Q_3}$.