Soft-virtual correction and threshold resummation for $n$-colorless particles to fourth order in QCD: Part I

Abstract

We present the general form of a universal soft-collinear distribution operator to compute the soft-virtual cross-section to next-to-next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^4$LO) in QCD for a process with any number of final state colorless particles in hadron colliders. By acting this universal operator on the pure virtual corrections, which need to be computed explicitly for a process, the soft-virtual cross-section can be obtained. The operator is constructed by exploiting the factorization and renormalization group evolution of amplitudes in QCD, and the universality of soft gluon contributions. We also provide the hard coefficient to perform the threshold resummation to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (N$^3$LL) accuracy. Furthermore, we present the approximate analytical results of the soft-virtual cross-sections at N$^4$LO and N$^3$LL for the Higgs boson production through gluon fusion and bottom quark annihilation, and also for the Drell-Yan production at the hadronic collider.