- Open Access
Feynman integral reduction without integration by parts
Phys. Rev. D 113, 116005 – Published 2 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/s5j9-21gz
Abstract
We present an interesting study of Feynman integral reduction that does not employ integration-by-parts identities. Our approach proceeds by studying the equivalence relations of integral contours in the Feynman parametrization. We find that the integration contour can take a more general form than that given by the Cheng-Wu theorem. We apply this idea to one-loop integrals and derive universal reduction formulas that can be used to efficiently reduce any one-loop integral. We expect that this approach can be useful in the reduction of multiloop integrals as well.
Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)
Article Text
References (93)
- A. V. Kotikov, Differential equations method: New technique for massive Feynman diagrams calculation, Phys. Lett. B 254, 158 (1991).
- A. V. Kotikov, Differential equation method: The calculation of point Feynman diagrams, Phys. Lett. B 267, 123 (1991).
- E. Remiddi, Differential equations for Feynman graph amplitudes, Nuovo Cimento Soc. Ital. Fis. 110A, 1435 (1997).
- T. Gehrmann and E. Remiddi, Differential equations for two-loop four-point functions, Nucl. Phys. B580, 485 (2000).
- S. Laporta, Calculation of master integrals by difference equations, Phys. Lett. B 504, 188 (2001).
- F. V. Tkachov, A theorem on analytical calculability of 4-loop renormalization group functions, Phys. Lett. 100B, 65 (1981).
- K. G. Chetyrkin and F. V. Tkachov, Integration by parts: The algorithm to calculate -functions in 4 loops, Nucl. Phys. B192, 159 (1981).
- A. V. Smirnov and M. Zeng, fire6.5: Feynman integral reduction with new simplification library, Comput. Phys. Commun. 302, 109261 (2024).
- R. N. Lee, litered1.4: A powerful tool for reduction of multiloop integrals, J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 523, 012059 (2014).
- A. von Manteuffel and C. Studerus, reduze 2-distributed Feynman integral reduction, arXiv:1201.4330.
- J. Klappert, F. Lange, P. Maierhöfer, and J. Usovitsch, Integral reduction with kira2.0 and finite field methods, Comput. Phys. Commun. 266, 108024 (2021).
- R. N. Lee, Modern techniques of multiloop calculations, in 49th Rencontres de Moriond on QCD and High Energy Interactions (2014), pp. 297–300, .
- K. J. Larsen and Y. Zhang, Integration-by-parts reductions from unitarity cuts and algebraic geometry, Phys. Rev. D 93, 041701 (2016).
- D. Bendle, J. Böhm, W. Decker, A. Georgoudis, F.-J. Pfreundt, M. Rahn et al., Integration-by-parts reductions of Feynman integrals using singular and GPI-space, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2020) 079.
- J. Chen and B. Feng, Module intersection and uniform formula for iterative reduction of one-loop integrals, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2023) 178.
- W. Chen, Reduction of Feynman integrals in the parametric representation, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2020) 115.
- W. Chen, Reduction of Feynman integrals in the parametric representation: II. Reduction of tensor integrals, Eur. Phys. J. C 81, 244 (2021).
- W. Chen, Reduction of Feynman integrals in the parametric representation: III. Integrals with cuts, Eur. Phys. J. C 80, 1173 (2020).
- W. Chen, Semi-automatic calculations of multi-loop Feynman amplitudes with AmpRed, Comput. Phys. Commun. 312, 109607 (2025).
- D. Artico and L. Magnea, Integration-by-parts identities and differential equations for parametrised Feynman integrals, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2024) 096.
- Z. Wu, J. Boehm, R. Ma, H. Xu, and Y. Zhang, neatibp1.0, a package generating small-size integration-by-parts relations for Feynman integrals, Comput. Phys. Commun. 295, 108999 (2024).
- X. Guan, X. Liu, Y.-Q. Ma, and W.-H. Wu, blade: A package for block-triangular form improved Feynman integrals decomposition, Comput. Phys. Commun. 310, 109538 (2025).
- G. Passarino and M. J. G. Veltman, One loop corrections for annihilation into in the Weinberg model, Nucl. Phys. B160, 151 (1979).
- B. Feng, T. Li, and X. Li, Analytic tadpole coefficients of one-loop integrals, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2021) 081.
- C. Hu, T. Li, and X. Li, One-loop Feynman integral reduction by differential operators, Phys. Rev. D 104, 116014 (2021).
- B. Feng, J. Gong, and T. Li, Universal treatment of the reduction for one-loop integrals in a projective space, Phys. Rev. D 106, 056025 (2022).
- B. Feng, T. Li, H. Wang, and Y. Zhang, Reduction of general one-loop integrals using auxiliary vector, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2022) 065.
- B. Feng and T. Li, PV-reduction of sunset topology with auxiliary vector, Commun. Theor. Phys. 74, 095201 (2022).
- B. Feng, C. Hu, T. Li, and Y. Song, Reduction with degenerate Gram matrix for one-loop integrals, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2022) 110.
- T. Li, Nontrivial one-loop recursive reduction relation, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2023) 051.
- G. Ossola, C. G. Papadopoulos, and R. Pittau, Reducing full one-loop amplitudes to scalar integrals at the integrand level, Nucl. Phys. B763, 147 (2007).
- G. Ossola, C. G. Papadopoulos, and R. Pittau, Numerical evaluation of six-photon amplitudes, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2007) 085.
- R. K. Ellis, W. T. Giele, and Z. Kunszt, A numerical unitarity formalism for evaluating one-loop amplitudes, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2008) 003.
- Z. Bern, L. J. Dixon, D. C. Dunbar, and D. A. Kosower, One loop n point gauge theory amplitudes, unitarity and collinear limits, Nucl. Phys. B425, 217 (1994).
- Z. Bern, L. J. Dixon, D. C. Dunbar, and D. A. Kosower, Fusing gauge theory tree amplitudes into loop amplitudes, Nucl. Phys. B435, 59 (1995).
- Z. Bern, L. J. Dixon, and D. A. Kosower, One loop amplitudes for to four partons, Nucl. Phys. B513, 3 (1998).
- R. Britto, F. Cachazo, and B. Feng, Generalized unitarity and one-loop amplitudes in super-Yang-Mills, Nucl. Phys. B725, 275 (2005).
- R. Britto, E. Buchbinder, F. Cachazo, and B. Feng, One-loop amplitudes of gluons in SQCD, Phys. Rev. D 72, 065012 (2005).
- R. Britto, B. Feng, and P. Mastrolia, The cut-constructible part of QCD amplitudes, Phys. Rev. D 73, 105004 (2006).
- C. Anastasiou, R. Britto, B. Feng, Z. Kunszt, and P. Mastrolia, -dimensional unitarity cut method, Phys. Lett. B 645, 213 (2007).
- C. Anastasiou, R. Britto, B. Feng, Z. Kunszt, and P. Mastrolia, Unitarity cuts and reduction to master integrals in d dimensions for one-loop amplitudes, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2007) 111.
- R. Britto and B. Feng, Unitarity cuts with massive propagators and algebraic expressions for coefficients, Phys. Rev. D 75, 105006 (2007).
- R. Britto and B. Feng, Integral coefficients for one-loop amplitudes, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2008) 095.
- R. Britto and E. Mirabella, Single cut integration, J. High Energy Phys. 01 (2011) 135.
- B. Feng, Generation function for one-loop tensor reduction, Commun. Theor. Phys. 75, 025203 (2023).
- X. Guan, X. Li, and Y.-Q. Ma, Exploring the linear space of Feynman integrals via generating functions, Phys. Rev. D 108, 034027 (2023).
- C. Hu, T. Li, J. Shen, and Y. Xu, An explicit expression of generating function for one-loop tensor reduction, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2024) 158.
- T. Li, Y. Song, and L. Zhang, Solving arbitrary one-loop reduction via generating function, Eur. Phys. J. C 85, 142 (2025).
- S. Mizera, Scattering amplitudes from intersection theory, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 141602 (2018).
- P. Mastrolia and S. Mizera, Feynman integrals and intersection theory, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2019) 139.
- H. Frellesvig, F. Gasparotto, S. Laporta, M. K. Mandal, P. Mastrolia, L. Mattiazzi et al., Decomposition of Feynman integrals on the maximal cut by intersection numbers, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2019) 153.
- H. Frellesvig, F. Gasparotto, M. K. Mandal, P. Mastrolia, L. Mattiazzi, and S. Mizera, Vector space of Feynman integrals and multivariate intersection numbers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 201602 (2019).
- S. Mizera and A. Pokraka, From infinity to four dimensions: Higher residue pairings and Feynman integrals, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2020) 159.
- S. Mizera, Status of intersection theory and Feynman integrals, Proc. Sci., MA2019 (2019) 016 [arXiv:2002.10476].
- H. Frellesvig, F. Gasparotto, S. Laporta, M. K. Mandal, P. Mastrolia, L. Mattiazzi et al., Decomposition of Feynman integrals by multivariate intersection numbers, J. High Energy Phys. 03 (2021) 027.
- S. Caron-Huot and A. Pokraka, Duals of Feynman integrals: Part I. Differential equations, J. High Energy Phys. 12 (2021) 045.
- S. Caron-Huot and A. Pokraka, Duals of Feynman integrals: Part II. Generalized unitarity, J. High Energy Phys. 04 (2022) 078.
- V. Chestnov, F. Gasparotto, M. K. Mandal, P. Mastrolia, S. J. Matsubara-Heo, H. J. Munch et al., Macaulay matrix for Feynman integrals: Linear relations and intersection numbers, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2022) 187.
- G. Fontana and T. Peraro, Reduction to master integrals via intersection numbers and polynomial expansions, J. High Energy Phys. 08 (2023) 175.
- G. Brunello, V. Chestnov, G. Crisanti, H. Frellesvig, M. K. Mandal, and P. Mastrolia, Intersection numbers, polynomial division and relative cohomology, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2024) 015.
- P. A. Baikov, Explicit solutions of the multiloop integral recurrence relations and its application, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 389, 347 (1997).
- R. N. Lee, Calculating multiloop integrals using dimensional recurrence relation and -analyticity, Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Suppl. 205–206, 135 (2010).
- M. Lu, Z. Wang, and L. L. Yang, Intersection theory, relative cohomology and the Feynman parametrization, J. High Energy Phys. 05 (2025) 158.
- H. Cheng and T. T. Wu, High-energy collision processes in quantum electrodynamics: III., Phys. Rev. 182, 1873 (1969).
- H. Cheng and T. T. Wu, Expanding protons: Scattering at high-energies (The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1987).
- V. A. Smirnov, Analytic tools for Feynman integrals, Springer Tracts Mod. Phys. 250, 1 (2012).
- T. Binoth, J. P. Guillet, G. Heinrich, E. Pilon, and C. Schubert, An algebraic/numerical formalism for one-loop multi-leg amplitudes, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2005) 015.
- R. Britto, Generalized cuts of Feynman integrals in parameter space, Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 091601 (2023).
- R. N. Lee and A. A. Pomeransky, Critical points and number of master integrals, J. High Energy Phys. 11 (2013) 165.
- N. Arkani-Hamed, A. Hillman, and S. Mizera, Feynman polytopes and the tropical geometry of UV and IR divergences, Phys. Rev. D 105, 125013 (2022).
- R. P. Klausen, Hypergeometric Feynman integrals, Ph.D. thesis, Mainz University, 2023, arXiv:2302.13184.
- S. Weinzierl, Feynman Integrals. A Comprehensive Treatment for Students and Researchers, UNITEXT for Physics (Springer, New York, 2022), 10.1007/978-3-030-99558-4.
- K. Aomoto and M. Kita, Theory of Hypergeometric Functions, Springer Monographs in Mathematics (Springer, New York, 2011), 10.1007/978-4-431-53938-4.
- K. Matsumoto, Quadratic identities for hypergeometric series of type , Kyushu J. Math. 48, 335 (1994).
- K. Matsumoto, Intersection numbers for logarithmic -forms, Osaka J. Math. 35, 873 (1998).
- K. Ohara, Y. Sugiki, and N. Takayama, Quadratic relations for generalized hypergeometric functions , Funkcialaj ekvacioj Serio internacia 46, 213 (2003).
- Y. Goto, Twisted cycles and twisted period relations for Lauricella’s hypergeometric function , Int. J. Math. 24, 19 (2013).
- Y. Goto and K. Matsumoto, The monodromy representation and twisted period relations for Appell’s hypergeometric function , Nagoya mathematical Journal 217, 61 (2015).
- Y. Goto, Twisted period relations for Lauricella’s hypergeometric functions , Osaka J. Math. 52, 861 (2015).
- Y. Goto, Intersection numbers and twisted period relations for the generalized hypergeometric function , Kyushu J. Math. 69, 203 (2015).
- S.-J. Matsubara-Heo and N. Takayama, An algorithm of computing cohomology intersection number of hypergeometric integrals, Nagoya mathematical Journal 246, 256 (2022).
- Y. Goto and S.-J. Matsubara-Heo, Homology and cohomology intersection numbers of GKZ systems, Indag. Math. New Ser. 33, 546 (2022).
- S.-J. Matsubara-Heo, Localization formulas of cohomology intersection numbers, J. Math. Soc. Jpn. 75, 909 (2023).
- A. Denner and S. Dittmaier, Reduction schemes for one-loop tensor integrals, Nucl. Phys. B734, 62 (2006).
- O. V. Tarasov, Connection between Feynman integrals having different values of the space-time dimension, Phys. Rev. D 54, 6479 (1996).
- O. V. Tarasov, Generalized recurrence relations for two loop propagator integrals with arbitrary masses, Nucl. Phys. B502, 455 (1997).
- R. N. Lee, Space-time dimensionality as complex variable: Calculating loop integrals using dimensional recurrence relation and analytical properties with respect to , Nucl. Phys. B830, 474 (2010).
- R. N. Lee, A. V. Smirnov, and V. A. Smirnov, Dimensional recurrence relations: An easy way to evaluate higher orders of expansion in , Nucl. Phys. B, Proc. Suppl. 205–206, 308 (2010).
- H. A. Frellesvig, R. Bonciani, V. Del Duca, F. Moriello, J. Henn, and V. Smirnov, Non-planar two-loop Feynman integrals contributing to Higgs plus jet production, Proc. Sci., LL2018 (2018) 076.
- L. D. Landau, On the analytic properties of vertex parts in quantum field theory, Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz. 37, 62 (1960).
- F. Coro, P. P. Novichkov, B. Page, and Q. Song, Feynman integral reduction and Landau singularities, arXiv:2512.05869.
- X. Jiang, J. Liu, X. Xu, and L. L. Yang, Symbol letters of Feynman integrals from Gram determinants, Phys. Lett. B 864, 139443 (2025).
- M. Correia, M. Giroux, and S. Mizera, SOFIA: Singularities of Feynman integrals automatized, Comput. Phys. Commun. 320, 109970 (2026).