Second order splitting functions and infrared safe cross sections in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM theory

Abstract

Abstract We report our findings on the perturbative structure of $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory in the infrared sector by computing inclusive scattering cross sections of on-shell particles. We use half-BPS, energy-momentum tensor and Konishi operators to produce singlet states in the scattering processes to probe the soft and the collinear properties of the cross sections. By appropriately defining the infrared safe observables, we obtain collinear splitting functions up to second order in the perturbation theory. The splitting functions and the infrared finite cross sections demonstrate several interesting connections with those in the perturbative QCD. We also determine the process independent soft distribution function up to third order in the perturbation theory and show that it is universal i.e. independent of the operators as well as the external states. Interestingly, the soft distribution function in $$ \mathcal{N} $$ N = 4 SYM theory matches exactly with the leading transcendental part of the corresponding one in the QCD. This enables us to predict the third order soft plus virtual cross section for the production of the on-shell singlet states.