Constant terms in threshold resummation and the quark form factor

Abstract

We verify to order alpha_s^4 two previously conjectured relations, valid in four dimensions, between constant terms in threshold resummation (for Deep Inelastic Scattering and the Drell-Yan process) and the second logarithmic derivative of the massless quark form factor. The same relations are checked to all orders in the large beta_0 limit; as a byproduct a dispersive representation of the form factor is obtained. These relations allow to compute in a symmetrical way the three-loop resummation coefficients B_3 and D_3 in terms of the three-loop contributions to the virtual diagonal splitting function and to the quark form factor, confirming results obtained in the literature.

39 pages, no figure; version 2: same content, but improved presentation, with a new section devoted to the variety of resummation procedures; version 3: journal version, where a remark about the all orders validity of the conjecture in the DIS case is reported