Double-real radiation in hadronic top quark pair production as a proof of a certain concept

Using the recently introduced Stripper approach to double-real radiation, we evaluate the total cross sections for the main partonic channels of the next-to-next-to-leading order contributions to top quark pair production in hadronic collisions: gg→tt¯gg, gg→tt¯qq¯, qq¯→tt¯gg, qq¯→tt¯q′q¯′, q′≠qq′≠q. The results are given as Laurent expansions in ϵ  , the parameter of dimensional regularization, at a number of m/ECMm/ECM values spreading the entire variation range, with m   the mass of the top quark and ECMECM the center-of-mass energy. We describe the details of our implementation and demonstrate its main properties: pointwise convergence and efficiency. We also prove the cancellation of leading divergences after inclusion of the double-virtual and real–virtual contributions. On a more technical note, we extended the double-soft current formulae to the case of massive partons.