Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Letter
  • Open Access

Catani’s generalization of collinear factorization breaking

Leandro Cieri*, Prasanna K. Dhani†, and Germán Rodrigo‡

  • *Contact author: lcieri@ific.uv.es
  • †Contact author: dhani@ific.uv.es; prasanna.dhani@physik.uzh.ch
  • ‡Contact author: german.rodrigo@csic.es

Phys. Rev. D 113, L031506 – Published 26 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/jfy8-xqsn

Abstract

We consider the most general form of soft and collinear factorization for hard-scattering amplitudes to all orders in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. Specifically, we present the generalization of collinear factorization to configurations with several collinear directions, where the most singular behavior is encoded by generalized collinear splitting amplitudes that manifestly embed the breaking of strict collinear factorization in spacelike collinear configurations. We also extend the analysis to the simultaneous soft-collinear factorization with multiple collinear directions where naive multiplicative factorization does not hold. As an illustrative example of factorization breaking, we present explicit results at the one-loop level in the soft-collinear limit.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (69)

  1. J. C. Collins, D. E. Soper, and G. F. Sterman, Factorization of hard processes in QCD, Adv. Ser. Dir. High Energy Phys. 5, 1 (1989).
  2. R. K. Ellis, W. J. Stirling, and B. R. Webber, QCD and Collider Physics (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 2011), Vol. 8.
  3. G. Altarelli and G. Parisi, Asymptotic freedom in parton language, Nucl. Phys. B126, 298 (1977).
  4. A. Bassetto, M. Ciafaloni, and G. Marchesini, Jet structure and infrared sensitive quantities in perturbative QCD, Phys. Rep. 100, 201 (1983).
  5. S. Frixione, Z. Kunszt, and A. Signer, Three jet cross-sections to next-to-leading order, Nucl. Phys. B467, 399 (1996).
  6. S. Catani and M. H. Seymour, A general algorithm for calculating jet cross-sections in NLO QCD, Nucl. Phys. B485, 291 (1997); B510, 503(E) (1998).
  7. S. Frixione, A general approach to jet cross-sections in QCD, Nucl. Phys. B507, 295 (1997).
  8. S. Catani, S. Dittmaier, M. H. Seymour, and Z. Trocsanyi, The dipole formalism for next-to-leading order QCD calculations with massive partons, Nucl. Phys. B627, 189 (2002).
  9. G. Heinrich, Collider physics at the precision frontier, Phys. Rep. 922, 1 (2021).
  10. W. J. Torres Bobadilla et al., May the four be with you: Novel IR-subtraction methods to tackle NNLO calculations, Eur. Phys. J. C 81, 250 (2021).
  11. N. Agarwal, L. Magnea, C. Signorile-Signorile, and A. Tripathi, The infrared structure of perturbative gauge theories, Phys. Rep. 994, 1 (2023).
  12. S. Camarda, L. Cieri, and G. Ferrera, Drell–Yan lepton-pair production: qT resummation at N3LL accuracy and fiducial cross sections at N3LO, Phys. Rev. D 104, L111503 (2021).
  13. G. Billis, B. Dehnadi, M. A. Ebert, J. K. L. Michel, and F. J. Tackmann, Higgs pT spectrum and total cross section with fiducial cuts at third resummed and fixed order in QCD, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 072001 (2021).
  14. T. Neumann and J. Campbell, Fiducial Drell-Yan production at the LHC improved by transverse-momentum resummation at N4LLp+N3LO, Phys. Rev. D 107, L011506 (2023).
  15. F. A. Berends and W. T. Giele, Multiple soft gluon radiation in parton processes, Nucl. Phys. B313, 595 (1989).
  16. J. M. Campbell and E. W. N. Glover, Double unresolved approximations to multiparton scattering amplitudes, Nucl. Phys. B527, 264 (1998).
  17. S. Catani and M. Grazzini, Infrared factorization of tree level QCD amplitudes at the next-to-next-to-leading order and beyond, Nucl. Phys. B570, 287 (2000).
  18. Z. Bern and G. Chalmers, Factorization in one loop gauge theory, Nucl. Phys. B447, 465 (1995).
  19. Z. Bern, V. Del Duca, and C. R. Schmidt, The infrared behavior of one loop gluon amplitudes at next-to-next-to-leading order, Phys. Lett. B 445, 168 (1998).
  20. Z. Bern, V. Del Duca, W. B. Kilgore, and C. R. Schmidt, The infrared behavior of one loop QCD amplitudes at next-to-next-to leading order, Phys. Rev. D 60, 116001 (1999).
  21. S. Catani and M. Grazzini, The soft gluon current at one loop order, Nucl. Phys. B591, 435 (2000).
  22. I. Bierenbaum, M. Czakon, and A. Mitov, The singular behavior of one-loop massive QCD amplitudes with one external soft gluon, Nucl. Phys. B856, 228 (2012).
  23. S. Catani, D. Colferai, and A. Torrini, Triple (and quadruple) soft-gluon radiation in QCD hard scattering, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2020) 118.
  24. V. Del Duca, C. Duhr, R. Haindl, and Z. Liu, Tree-level soft emission of a quark pair in association with a gluon, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2023) 040.
  25. S. Catani, L. Cieri, D. Colferai, and F. Coradeschi, Soft gluon–quark–antiquark emission in QCD hard scattering, Eur. Phys. J. C 83, 38 (2023).
  26. Y. J. Zhu, Double soft current at one-loop in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2026) 018.
  27. S. Catani and L. Cieri, Multiple soft radiation at one-loop order and the emission of a soft quark–antiquark pair, Eur. Phys. J. C 82, 97 (2022).
  28. M. Czakon, F. Eschment, and T. Schellenberger, Revisiting the double-soft asymptotics of one-loop amplitudes in massless QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2023) 065.
  29. Y. Li and H. X. Zhu, Single soft gluon emission at two loops, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2013) 080.
  30. C. Duhr and T. Gehrmann, The two-loop soft current in dimensional regularization, Phys. Lett. B 727, 452 (2013).
  31. L. J. Dixon, E. Herrmann, K. Yan, and H. X. Zhu, Soft gluon emission at two loops in full color, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2020) 135.
  32. W. Chen, M. Luo, T.-Z. Yang, and H. X. Zhu, Soft theorem to three loops in QCD and N=4 super Yang-Mills theory, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2024) 131.
  33. F. Herzog, Y. Ma, B. Mistlberger, and A. Suresh, Single-soft emissions for amplitudes with two colored particles at three loops, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2023) 023.
  34. X. Chen and Z. Liu, Tree-level soft emission for two pairs of quarks, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2025) 166.
  35. S. Catani and M. Grazzini, Collinear factorization and splitting functions for next-to-next-to-leading order QCD calculations, Phys. Lett. B 446, 143 (1999).
  36. P. K. Dhani, G. Rodrigo, and G. F. R. Sborlini, Triple-collinear splittings with massive particles, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2023) 188.
  37. E. Craft, M. Gonzalez, K. Lee, B. Mecaj, and I. Moult, The 1→3 massive splitting functions from QCD factorization and SCET, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2024) 080.
  38. D. A. Kosower and P. Uwer, One loop splitting amplitudes in gauge theory, Nucl. Phys. B563, 477 (1999).
  39. S. Catani, D. de Florian, and G. Rodrigo, Space-like (versus time-like) collinear limits in QCD: Is factorization violated?, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2012) 026.
  40. G. F. R. Sborlini, D. de Florian, and G. Rodrigo, Double collinear splitting amplitudes at next-to-leading order, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2014) 018.
  41. V. Del Duca, A. Frizzo, and F. Maltoni, Factorization of tree QCD amplitudes in the high-energy limit and in the collinear limit, Nucl. Phys. B568, 211 (2000).
  42. T. G. Birthwright, E. W. N. Glover, V. V. Khoze, and P. Marquard, Multi-gluon collinear limits from MHV diagrams, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2005) 013.
  43. T. G. Birthwright, E. W. N. Glover, V. V. Khoze, and P. Marquard, Collinear limits in QCD from MHV rules, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2005) 068.
  44. V. Del Duca, C. Duhr, R. Haindl, A. Lazopoulos, and M. Michel, Tree-level splitting amplitudes for a quark into four collinear partons, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2020) 189.
  45. V. Del Duca, C. Duhr, R. Haindl, A. Lazopoulos, and M. Michel, Tree-level splitting amplitudes for a gluon into four collinear partons, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2020) 093.
  46. S. Catani, D. de Florian, and G. Rodrigo, The triple collinear limit of one loop QCD amplitudes, Phys. Lett. B 586, 323 (2004).
  47. G. F. R. Sborlini, D. de Florian, and G. Rodrigo, Triple collinear splitting functions at NLO for scattering processes with photons, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2014) 161.
  48. G. F. R. Sborlini, D. de Florian, and G. Rodrigo, Polarized triple-collinear splitting functions at NLO for processes with photons, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2015) 021.
  49. S. Badger, F. Buciuni, and T. Peraro, One-loop triple collinear splitting amplitudes in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2015) 188.
  50. M. Czakon and S. Sapeta, Complete collection of one-loop triple-collinear splitting operators for dimensionally-regulated QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2022) 052.
  51. Z. Bern, L. J. Dixon, and D. A. Kosower, Two-loop g→gg splitting amplitudes in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2004) 012.
  52. S. D. Badger and E. W. N. Glover, Two loop splitting functions in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2004) 040.
  53. C. Duhr, T. Gehrmann, and M. Jaquier, Two-loop splitting amplitudes and the single-real contribution to inclusive Higgs production at N3LO, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2015) 077.
  54. X. Guan, F. Herzog, Y. Ma, B. Mistlberger, and A. Suresh, Splitting amplitudes at N3LO in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2025) 090.
  55. J. R. Forshaw, A. Kyrieleis, and M. H. Seymour, Super-leading logarithms in non-global observables in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2006) 059.
  56. J. R. Forshaw, A. Kyrieleis, and M. H. Seymour, Super-leading logarithms in non-global observables in QCD: Colour basis independent calculation, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2008) 128.
  57. J. Keates and M. H. Seymour, Super-leading logarithms in non-global observables in QCD: Fixed order calculation, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2009) 040.
  58. T. Becher, M. Neubert, and D. Y. Shao, Resummation of super-leading logarithms, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 212002 (2021).
  59. T. Becher, P. Hager, G. Martinelli, M. Neubert, D. Schwienbacher, and M. Stillger, Super-leading logarithms in pp→2 jets, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2025) 171.
  60. Y. Ma, G. Sterman, and A. Venkata, Soft photon theorem in QCD with massless quarks, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 091902 (2024).
  61. I. Feige and M. D. Schwartz, Hard-soft-collinear factorization to all orders, Phys. Rev. D 90, 105020 (2014).
  62. J. R. Forshaw, M. H. Seymour, and A. Siodmok, On the breaking of collinear factorization in QCD, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2012) 066.
  63. G. Sterman, Comments on collinear factorization, in Snowmass 2021 (2022), arXiv:2207.06507.
  64. C. Duhr, A. Venkata, and C. Zhang, Double spacelike collinear limits from multi-Regge kinematics, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 241601 (2025).
  65. L. Cieri, P. K. Dhani, and G. Rodrigo (to be published).
  66. See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/jfy8-xqsn for notational details and the steps leading to the results in Eqs. (21) and (22).
  67. J. Henn, R. Ma, Y. Xu, K. Yan, Y. Zhang, and H. X. Zhu, Two-loop spacelike splitting amplitude for N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, Phys. Rev. D 112, 076003 (2025).
  68. T. Becher, P. Hager, S. Jaskiewicz, M. Neubert, and D. Schwienbacher, Factorization restoration through glauber gluons, Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 061901 (2025).
  69. T. Becher, P. Hager, S. Jaskiewicz, M. Neubert, and D. Schwienbacher, Low-energy theory of jet processes and PDF factorization, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2026) 024.

Outline

Information

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation