We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) contributions to the three splitting functions governing the evolution of unpolarized non-singlet combinations of quark densities in perturbative QCD. Our results agree with all partial results available in the literature. We find that the correct leading logarithmic (LL) predictions for small momentum fractions x do not provide a good estimate of the respective complete results. A new, unpredicted LL contribution is found for the colour factor d abc d abc entering at three loops for the first time. We investigate the size of the corrections and the stability of the NNLO evolution under variation of the renormalization scale. Except for very small x the corrections are found to be rather small even for large values of the strong coupling constant, in principle facilitating a perturbative evolution into the sub-GeV regime.

We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) contributions to the splitting functions governing the evolution of the unpolarized flavour-singlet parton densities in perturbative QCD. The exact expressions are presented in both Mellin-N and Bjorken-x space. We also provide accurate parametrizations for practical applications. Our results agree with all partial results available in the literature. As in the non-singlet case, the correct leading logarithmic predictions for small momentum fractions x do not provide good estimates of the respective complete splitting functions. We investigate the size of the corrections and the stability of the NNLO evolution under variation of the renormalization scale. The perturbative expansion appears to converge rapidly at x > ∼ 10 −3 . Relatively large third-order corrections are found at smaller values of x.

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We study the electromagnetic on-shell form factor of quarks in massless perturbative QCD. We derive the complete pole part in dimensional regularization at three loops, and extend the resummation of the form factor to the next-to-next-to-leading contributions. These results are employed to evaluate the infrared finite absolute ratio of the time-like and space-like form factors up to the fourth order in the strong coupling constant. Besides for the pole structure of higher-loop QCD amplitudes, our new contributions to the form factor are also relevant for the high-energy limit of massive gauge theories like QED. The highest-transcendentality component of our results confirms a result recently obtained in N = 4 Super-Yang-Mills theory.

We present a program to calculate the total cross section for top-quark pair production in hadronic collisions. The program takes into account recent theoretical developments such as approximate next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative QCD corrections and it allows for studies of the theoretical uncertainty by separate variations of the factorization and renormalization scales. In addition it offers the possibility to obtain the cross section as a function of the running top-quark mass. The program can also be applied to a hypothetical fourth quark family provided the QCD couplings are standard.