Endpoint Logarithms in e+e- -> J/psi + eta_c

Abstract

We investigate the origin of the double logarithms of Q^2/m_c^2 that appear in the calculation of the cross section for e+e- -> J/psi + eta_c at next-to-leading order in alpha_s. We find that, diagram-by-diagram, the double logarithms are accounted for by Sudakov double logarithms and endpoint double logarithms. The Sudakov double logarithms cancel in the sum over all diagrams, but the endpoint double logarithms do not. We reinterpret the endpoint double logarithms in terms of a leading region of loop integration in which a spectator fermion line becomes soft. This reinterpretation may simplify the process of establishing an all-orders factorization theorem for this helicity-flip process, which, in turn, might allow one to resum logarithms of Q^2/m_c^2 to all orders in alpha_s.