Higgs plus multigluon amplitudes in QCD can be computed in an effective Lagrangian description. In the infinite top-mass limit, an amplitude with a Higgs boson and $n$ gluons is computed by the form factor of the operator $\mathrm{Tr}{F}^2$. Up to two loops and for three gluons, its maximally transcendental part is captured entirely by the form factor of the protected stress tensor multiplet operator ${\mathcal{T}}_2$ in $\mathcal{N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The next order correction involves the calculation of the form factor of the higher-dimensional, trilinear operator $\mathrm{Tr}{F}^3$. We present explicit results at two loops for three gluons, including the subleading transcendental terms derived from a particular descendant of the Konishi operator that contains $\mathrm{Tr}{F}^3$. These are expressed in terms of a few universal building blocks already identified in earlier calculations. We show that the maximally transcendental part of this quantity, computed in nonsupersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, is identical to the form factor of another protected operator, ${\mathcal{T}}_3$, in the maximally supersymmetric theory. Our results suggest that the maximally transcendental part of Higgs amplitudes in QCD can be entirely computed through $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory.

• Received 2 August 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.161601

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Published by the American Physical Society