Paper detail

The elliptic dilogarithm for the sunset graph

We study the sunset graph defined as the scalar two-point self-energy at two-loop order. We evaluate the sunset integral for all identical internal masses in two dimensions. We give two calculations for the sunset amplitude; one based on an interpretation of the amplitude as an inhomogeneous solution of a classical Picard-Fuchs differential equation, and the other using arithmetic algebraic geometry, motivic cohomology, and Eisenstein series. Both methods use the rather special fact that the amplitude in this case is a family of periods associated to the universal family of elliptic curves over the modular curve X_1(6). We show that the integral is given by an elliptic dilogarithm evaluated at a sixth root of unity modulo periods. We explain as well how this elliptic dilogarithm value is related to the regulator of a class in the motivic cohomology of the universal elliptic family.