The asymptotic behavior of the heavy quark form factors at higher order

Abstract

In the asymptotic limit $Q^2\gg m^2$, the heavy quark form factors exhibit Sudakov behavior. We study the corresponding renormalization group equations of the heavy quark form factors which do not only govern the structure of infrared divergences, but also control the high energy logarithms. This enables us to obtain the complete logarithmic three--loop and partial four--loop contributions to the heavy quark form factors in perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics.

23 pages LATEX