Off-shell minimal form factors

Abstract

We study off-shell n-particle form factors of half-BPS operators built from n complex scalar fields at the two-loop order in the planar maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory (sYM). These are known as minimal form factors. We construct their representation as a sum of independent scalar Feynman integrals relying on two complementary techniques. First, by going to the Coulomb branch of the theory by employing the spontaneous symmetry breaking which induces masses, but only for external particles while retaining masslessness for virtual states propagating in quantum loops. For a low number of external legs, this entails an uplift of massless integrands to their massive counterparts. Second, utilizing the N=1 superspace formulation of the N=4 sYM and performing algebra of covariant derivatives off-shell. Both techniques provide identical results. These form factors are then studied in the near-mass-shell limit with the off-shellness regularizing emerging infrared divergences. We observe their exponentiation and confirm the octagon anomalous dimension, not the cusp, as the coefficient of the Sudakov double logarithmic behavior. By subtracting these singularities and defining a finite remainder, we verified that its symbol is identical to the one found a decade ago in the conformal case. Beyond-the-symbol contributions are different in the two cases, however.