Generalized polylogarithms in perturbative quantum field theory
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This thesis examines the mathematical structure of scattering amplitudes and correlation functions in perturbative quantum field theory. The focus is on maximally supersymmetric N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, though the techniques presented here should be applicable in other contexts as well. Multi-loop Feynman integrals typically do not evaluate to classical functions, but in many cases they can be expressed in terms of certain types of iterated integrals that generalize classical polylogarithms. I show throughout this thesis how certain analytic properties of these functions can be used in conjunction with physical constraints to produce highly efficient methods of calculation. In the first half of this work, I focus on quantities in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory that can be expressed in terms of polylogarithmic functions of two variables, presenting results for the multi-Regge kinematical limit of six-point amplitudes and for the four-point correlation function of stress-tensor multiplets. In the second half of this work, I extend the analysis to functions of three variables in order to calculate the six-point remainder function, which describes the scattering of six gluons in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. I present analytical results for the remainder function at three and four loops.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Pennington, Jeffrey S |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Physics. |
| Primary advisor | Dixon, Lance Jenkins |
| Thesis advisor | Dixon, Lance Jenkins |
| Thesis advisor | Kallosh, Renata |
| Thesis advisor | Peskin, Michael Edward, 1951- |
| Advisor | Kallosh, Renata |
| Advisor | Peskin, Michael Edward, 1951- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Jeffrey S. Pennington. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Jeffrey Starr Pennington
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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