Conservative Black Hole Scattering at Fifth Post-Minkowskian and Second Self-Force Order

Abstract: Using the worldline quantum field theory formalism, we compute the conservative scattering angle and impulse for classical black hole scattering at fifth post-Minkowskian (5PM) order by providing the second self-force (2SF) contributions. This four-loop calculation involves non-planar Feynman integrals and requires advanced integration-by-parts reduction, novel differential-equation strategies, and efficient boundary-integral algorithms to solve a system of hundreds of master integrals in four integral families on high-performance computing systems. The resulting function space includes multiple polylogarithms as well as iterated integrals with a K3 period, which generate a spurious velocity divergence at $v/c=\sqrt{8}/3$. This divergence is present in the potential region and must be cancelled by conservative memory contributions from radiative regions. We find that the standard use of Feynman propagators to access the conservative sector fails to ensure this cancellation. We propose a conservative propagator prescription which realises both cancellations leading to a physically sensible answer. All available low-velocity checks of our result against the post-Newtonian literature are satisfied.