Leading-color two-loop QCD corrections for three-photon production at hadron colliders

We compute the two-loop helicity amplitudes for the production of three photons at hadron colliders in QCD at leading-color. Using the two-loop numerical unitarity method coupled with analytic reconstruction techniques, we obtain the decomposition of the two-loop amplitudes in terms of master integrals in analytic form. These expressions are valid to all orders in the dimensional regulator. We use them to compute the two-loop finite remainders, which are given in a form that can be efficiently evaluated across the whole physical phase space. We further package these results in a public code which assembles the helicity-summed squared two-loop remainders, whose numerical stability across phase-space is demonstrated. This is the first time that a five-point two-loop process is publicly available for immediate phenomenological applications.

Automated summary

In this study, the two-loop helicity amplitudes for producing three photons at hadron colliders in QCD were computed using a numerical unitarity method and analytic reconstruction techniques. These amplitudes were decomposed in terms of master integrals in analytic form, and the two-loop finite remainders were efficiently evaluated across the physical phase space. These results were packaged in a public code, making a five-point two-loop process available for immediate phenomenological applications.