The two-mass contribution to the three-loop pure singlet operator matrix element

Abstract

We present the two-mass QCD contributions to the pure singlet operator matrix element at three loop order in x-space. These terms are relevant for calculating the structure function $F_2(x,Q^2)$ at $O(\alpha_s^3)$ as well as for the matching relations in the variable flavor number scheme and the heavy quark distribution functions at the same order. The result for the operator matrix element is given in terms of generalized iterated integrals that include square root letters in the alphabet, depending also on the mass ratio through the main argument. Numerical results are presented.