QCD evolution equations from conformal symmetry

Abstract

QCD evolution equations in $\text{MS}$-like schemes can be recovered from the same equations in a modified theory, QCD in non-integer $d=4-2\epsilon$ dimensions, which enjoys exact scale and conformal invariance at the critical point. Restrictions imposed by the conformal symmetry of the modified theory allow one to obtain complete evolution kernels in integer (physical) dimensions at the given order of perturbation theory from the spectrum of anomalous dimensions added by the calculation of the special conformal anomaly at one order less. We use this technique to derive two-loop evolution equations for flavor-nonsinglet quark-antiquark light-ray operators that encode the scale dependence of generalized hadron parton distributions.