Non-factorizable corrections and effective field theories

Abstract

We analyze the structure of higher-order radiative corrections for processes with unstable particles. By subsequently integrating out the various scales that are induced by the presence of unstable particles we obtain a hierarchy of effective field theories. In the effective field theory framework the separation of physically different effects is achieved naturally. In particular, we automatically obtain a separation of factorizable and non-factorizable corrections to all orders in perturbation theory. At one loop this treatment is equivalent to the double-pole approximation (DPA) but generalizes to higher orders and, at least in principle, to beyond the DPA. It is known that one-loop non-factorizable corrections to invariant mass distributions are suppressed at high energy. We study the mechanism of this suppression and obtain estimates of higher-order non-factorizable corrections at high energy.