Two-Loop Leading Color Corrections to Heavy-Quark Pair Production in the Gluon Fusion Channel

Abstract

We evaluate the two-loop QCD diagrams contributing to the leading color coefficient of the heavy-quark pair production cross section in the gluon fusion channel. We obtain an analytic expression, which is valid for any value of the Mandelstam invariants s and t and of the heavy-quark mass m. Our findings agree with previous analytic results in the small-mass limit and with recent results for the coefficients of the IR poles.

15 pages, 3 figures, additional files with results and numerical program