Virtual corrections to gg -> H to two loops in the heavy top limit

Abstract

The virtual corrections to the production cross section of a Standard Model Higgs boson are computed up to order \alpha_s^4. Using an effective Lagrangian for the limit M_t -> \infty, we evaluate the relevant massless two-loop vertex diagrams by mapping them onto three-loop two-point functions, following a method recently introduced by Baikov and Smirnov. As a result, we find a gauge-invariant contribution to the total Higgs production cross section at NNLO.

Comments: LaTeX, 9 pages, 2 figures (8 PostScript files)