Vacuum amplitudes and time-like causal unitary in the loop-tree duality

Abstract

We present the first proof-of-concept application to decay processes at higher perturbative orders of LTD causal unitary, a novel methodology that exploits the causal properties of vacuum amplitudes in the loop-tree duality (LTD) and is directly well-defined in the four physical dimensions of the space-time. The generation of loop- and tree-level contributions to the differential decay rates from a kernel multiloop vacuum amplitude is shown in detail, and explicit expressions are presented for selected processes that are suitable for a lightweight understanding of the method. Specifically, we provide a clear physical interpretation of the local cancellation of soft, collinear and threshold singularities, and of the local renormalisation of ultraviolet singularities. The presentation is illustrated with numerical results that showcase the advantages of the method.