Conformal symmetry and Feynman integrals

Abstract

We develop a new technology for calculating Feynman integrals by solving differential equations derived from conformal symmetry. Singularities hidden in the collinear region around an external massless leg may lead to conformal symmetry breaking in otherwise conformally invariant finite loop momentum integrals. For an ℓ-loop integral, this mechanism leads to a set of linear 2nd-order differential equations with a non-homogeneous part. The latter, due to the contact nature of the anomaly in momentum space, is determined by (ℓ−1)-loop information. Solving such differential equations in general is an open problem. In the case of 5-particle amplitudes up to two loops, the function space is known, and we can thus follow a bootstrap approach to write down the solution. As a first application of this method, we bootstrap the 6D penta-box integral.