Analytical Soft Functions for Heavy-Quark Final States at Hadron Colliders
Abstract
We present the first computation of the complete two-loop, fully differential soft function describing the production of a heavy-quark pair in association with a color-singlet system at hadron colliders. This result constitutes one of the most complex soft functions known to date and it is obtained in closed analytic form for generic multidimensional kinematics. This allows us to obtain novel analytic results for the transverse-momentum-dependent and threshold soft functions in this class of processes. We further obtain a decomposition of the soft function into dipole and tripole color correlators, thereby supplying essential building blocks for processes involving a heavy-quark pair produced together with additional light jets at both hadron and lepton colliders. These results represent a key ingredient for advancing precision predictions for heavy-quark physics at the LHC.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 136
- Issue
- 23
- Pages
- 231902–231902
- Publication date
- 20 April 2026
- Language
- EN