Two-loop QCD contribution to the quark-initiated production of a top-antitop quark pair and a Higgs boson at the LHC

Abstract

We present the first direct computation of the two-loop QCD virtual corrections to the production of a top-antitop quark pair in association with a Higgs boson ($t\bar{t}H$) at the LHC. We focus on the quark-antiquark channel and perform the calculation in the generalised leading-colour approximation. We combine state-of-the-art numerical methods for multiloop calculations with machine learning techniques to construct a surrogate amplitude suitable for accurate cross section computations. We compare our numerical results with those previously obtained using dynamical approximations of the two-loop amplitude, finding agreement within their respective uncertainties.