Two-loop MHV Form Factors from the Periodic Wilson Loop

Abstract

We discuss how to compute maximal-helicity-violating (MHV) form factors for the chiral part of the stress-tensor supermultiplet from periodic light-like polygon Wilson loops in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory beyond the one-loop level. We show that the periodicity imposes path ordering on points on different edges, which explains the appearance of square roots coming from non-planar Feynman diagrams. Taking such diagrams into account, we provide the integrand of the two-loop $n$-particle MHV form factor, compute all diagrams, prove the cancellation of divergences and finally compute the two-loop 5-particle and 6-particle form factors as examples.

33 pages, 2 figures; v2: references added