text:
# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

Hard processes in massless gauge field theories as QED and QCD exhibit Mellin–structures. The observables $`\sigma `$ can be written as Mellin convolutions

$`\sigma (x)=\left[AB\right](x)={\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑x_1{\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑x_2\delta (xx_1x_2)A_1(x_1)A_2(x_2).`$ (1)
Here, the functions $`A_i(x_i)`$ denote hard cross sections and splitting functions, respectively. In practice even multiple Mellin convolutions occur in the calculations of higher order Feynman diagrams. Integrals of this type can be diagonalized by the Mellin transform

$`\text{M}\left[\sigma (x)\right](N)={\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑xx^N\sigma (x)=\text{M}\left[A_1(x_1)\right](N)\text{M}\left[A_2(x_2)\right](N)`$ (2)
and $`\sigma (x)`$ can be found by a single inverse Mellin transform after evaluating the functions $`\text{M}\left[A_i(x_i)\right](N)`$, which are simpler in general. For $`Nϵ\text{N}^+`$ the Mellin transforms of the functions $`A_i(x)`$ can be represented in terms of linear combinations of finite harmonic sums \[1–3\] and their polynomials.

$$S_{k_1,\mathrm{},k_m}(N)=\underset{n_1=1}{\overset{N}{}}\frac{\left[\mathrm{sign}(k_1)\right]^{n_1}}{n_1^{|k_1|}}\underset{n_2=1}{\overset{n_1}{}}\frac{\left[\mathrm{sign}(k_2)\right]^{n_2}}{n_2^{|k_2|}}\mathrm{}\underset{n_m=1}{\overset{n_{m1}}{}}\frac{\left[\mathrm{sign}(k_m)\right]^{n_m}}{n_m^{|k_m|}}.$$
(3)
Up to the level of two–loop order only harmonic sums up to rank 4 contribute. The set of functions $`A_i(x)`$ is formed by polynomials of Nielsen integrals

$$S_{n,p}(x)=\frac{(1)^{n+p1}}{(n1)!p!}_0^1\frac{dz}{z}\mathrm{log}^{n1}(z)\mathrm{log}^p(1zx).$$
(4)
As was shown in Ref.  the representation of the Mellin transforms in terms of finite harmonic sums may be reduced significantly by applying algebraic relations, cf. also , between these sums which are implied by index permutation and decomposition. Up to the level of two–loop order only 25 basic functions remain out of which the coefficient functions and splitting functions can be assembled as Mellin polynomials.

Any of the multiple Mellin convolutions discussed above can thus be traced back to polynomials of the basic functions and a single numerical Mellin inversion which is performed as a complex contour integral. The Mellin transforms, which are firstly obtained at the positive integers, have to be analytically continued to the complex $`N`$–plane. This analytic continuation is unique . For single harmonic sums the continuation is well–known

$`S_k(N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^{k1}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(k1)!}}\psi ^{(k1)}(N+1)+c_k^+`$ (5)
$`S_k(N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^{k1+N}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(k1)!}}\beta ^{(k1)}(N+1)c_k^{},`$ (6)
with $`\psi (z)`$ the logarithmic derivative of the Euler $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$–function and

$`\beta (z)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\psi \left({\displaystyle \frac{z+1}{2}}\right)\psi \left({\displaystyle \frac{z}{2}}\right)\right]`$ (7)
$`c_1^+`$ $`=`$ $`\gamma _E`$ (8)
$`c_k^+`$ $`=`$ $`\zeta (k),k2`$ (9)
$`c_1^{}`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{log}(2)`$ (10)
$`c_k^+`$ $`=`$ $`\left(1{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2^{k1}}}\right)\zeta (k),k2.`$ (11)
Here $`\gamma _E`$ denotes the Euler–Mascheroni constant and $`\zeta (k)`$ is the Riemann $`\zeta `$–function.

It is the aim of the present paper to calculate the analytic continuations of the Mellin transforms of these 25 basic functions and to provide a code for numerical evaluations. The paper is organized as follows. The basic functions are introduced in section 2 and their structure is discussed. In section 3 the representation of the basic functions is given for positive integers. These representations which are given in terms of multiple harmonic sums do also provide first detailed numerical tests for the representations used for the analytic continuations later. The Mellin transforms for complex argument are given in section 4 for the functions of the type $`f_i(x)/(1+x)`$ and for the functions $`(f_k(x)f_k(1))/(x1)`$ in section 5. Here we aim on high numerical accuracy. Section 6 describes the basic options of the code ANCONT. The results are summarized in section 7.

## 2 Basic Functions

Using the algebraic relations given in Ref.  one may show that the linear representations up to threefold harmonic sums up to transcendentality four can be expressed by the single harmonic sums $`S_{\pm k}(N)`$ and the Mellin–transforms of the following 25 basic functions :

$$\begin{array}{ccccc}g_1(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_2(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\mathrm{log}^2(1+x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{1,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_3(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{2,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_4(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{2,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_5(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\mathrm{log}(x)\text{Li}_2(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{2,2}(N),S_{3,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_6(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{3,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_7(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{3,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_8(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_9(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{10}(x)\hfill & =& \frac{I_1(x)}{1+x}\hfill & & S_{1,2,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{11}(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\mathrm{log}(1x)\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}\hfill & & S_{1,2,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}\hfill \\ g_{12}(x)\hfill & =& \mathrm{log}(1x)\frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{x+1}\hfill & & S_{1,2,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{13}(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)}{1+x}\text{Li}_2(x)\hfill & & S_{1,2,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{14}(x)\hfill & =& \frac{\mathrm{log}^2(1+x)\mathrm{log}^2(2)}{x1}\hfill & & S_{1,1,1}(N)\hfill \end{array}$$
(12)
$`\begin{array}{ccccc}g_{15}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)\mathrm{log}(2)}{x1}}\text{Li}_2(x)\hfill & & S_{1,2,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{16}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)\mathrm{log}(2)}{x1}}\text{Li}_2(x)\hfill & & S_{1,2,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{17}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(x)\mathrm{log}^2(1+x)}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{1,1,2}(N),S_{1,2,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{18}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)\zeta (2)}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{2,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{19}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)+\zeta (2)/2}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{2,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{20}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)\zeta (3)}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{3,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{21}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\zeta (3)}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{22}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(x)\text{Li}_2(x)}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{3,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{23}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)+3\zeta (3)/4}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{3,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{24}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{I_1(x)+(5/8)\zeta (3)}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{2,1,1}(N),S_{2,1,1}(N)\hfill \\ g_{25}(x)\hfill & =& {\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\zeta (3)/8}{x1}}\hfill & & S_{2,1,1}(N),\hfill \end{array}`$ (24)
with

$`I_1(x)={\displaystyle _0^x}{\displaystyle \frac{dz}{z}}\mathrm{log}(1z)\mathrm{log}(1+z).`$ (25)
Here we listed also all harmonic sums of rank 4 which contribute to the respective Mellin transforms.

The functions $`g_i(x)`$ belong to the class of Nielsen–integrals  $`\mathrm{S}_{n,p}(x)`$, Eq. (4). The degree of transcendentality of these functions is defined to be $`\tau =p+n`$. The transcendentality of the product of two of these these functions is the sum of their transcendentalities. The measures $`dx/(x\pm 1)`$ are defined to be of transcendentality 1. The polylogarithms are given by

$`\text{Li}_n(x)={\displaystyle \frac{d\text{Li}_{n+1}(x)}{d\mathrm{log}(x)}}\text{S}_{n1,1}(x)={\displaystyle \frac{(1)^{n1}}{(n2)!}}{\displaystyle _0^1}{\displaystyle \frac{dz}{z}}\mathrm{log}^{n2}(z)\mathrm{log}(1zx)\mathrm{for}n2.`$ (26)
The logarithms $`\mathrm{log}(1\pm x)`$ are related to the dilogarithm by

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\text{Li}_2(\pm x)}{d\mathrm{log}(x)}}=\text{Li}_1(\pm x)=\mathrm{log}(1x)`$ (27)
and

$`\text{Li}_0(x)={\displaystyle \frac{x}{1x}}.`$ (28)
Similarly,

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d\text{S}_{n,p}(x)}{d\mathrm{log}(x)}}=\text{S}_{n1,p}(x)`$ (29)
holds. As a generalization of the Nielsen–integrals (4) one may wish to consider

$$\mathrm{S}_{n,p,q}(x)=\frac{(1)^{n+p+q1}}{(n1)!p!q!}_0^1\frac{dz}{z}\mathrm{log}^{n1}(z)\mathrm{log}^p(1zx)\mathrm{log}^q(1+zx).$$
(30)
Both the classes of functions (4) and (30) are non–minimal and large subsets of them can be represented already by the polylogarithms $`\text{Li}_l(y)`$, where $`y`$ denotes a function of $`x`$. Relations between the different Nielsen–integrals and their generalizations are, however, more easily established using non–minimal representations, since the argument structure turns out to be simple in the latter case. Following this line we have introduced in the above set of functions

$`I_1(x)S_{1,1,1}(x)={\displaystyle _0^x}{\displaystyle \frac{dz}{z}}\mathrm{log}(1z)\mathrm{log}(1+z)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\text{S}_{1,2}(x^2)\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\text{S}_{1,2}(x),`$ (31)
instead referring to $`\text{S}_{1,2}(x^2)`$.

The Mellin transforms of the functions (12) are related to a series of finite harmonic sums through which all harmonic sums up to level three and transcendentality four may be expressed in terms of polynomials, except of the well–known case of single harmonic sums and polynomials which are made of only single harmonic sums. To establish the connection more closely we mentioned above those sums in which the respective Mellin transforms occur in explicit form, see also Ref. .

## 3 Representations of the Mellin Transforms at Positive Integers

To compare the numerical expressions of the analytic continuations of the Mellin–transforms given in the forthcoming sections we summarize the exact representations of the Mellin–transforms for $`Nϵ𝐍^+`$ for the basic functions in terms of harmonic sums. These relations are used as one test for the numerical accuracy of the analytic continuations.

$`\text{M}\left[g_1(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^N\{S_{1,1}(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{log}^2(2)[S_1(N)S_1(N)]\mathrm{log}(2)`$ (32)
$`S_1(N)S_1(N)S_2(N)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_2(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`2(1)^N\{S_{1,1,1}(N)\mathrm{log}(2)[S_{1,1}(N)S_{1,1}(N)]`$ (33)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{log}^2(2)[S_1(N)S_1(N)]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\mathrm{log}^3(2)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_3(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^{N+1}\left[S_{2,1}(N)\zeta (2)S_1(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2)\right]`$ (34)
$`\text{M}\left[g_4(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^{N+1}\{S_{2,1}(N)+\mathrm{log}(2)[S_2(N)S_2(N)]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_1(N)`$ (35)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (3)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_5(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^N\left[S_{2,2}(N)+2S_{3,1}(N)2\zeta (2)S_2(N){\displaystyle \frac{3}{40}}\zeta (2)^2\right]`$ (36)
$`\text{M}\left[g_6(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^N[S_{3,1}(N)\zeta (2)S_2(N)+\zeta (3)S_1(N)`$ (37)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{5}}\zeta (2)^22\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)]`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_7(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^N\{S_{3,1}(N)+\mathrm{log}(2)[S_3(N)S_3(N)]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_2(N)`$ (38)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (2)^2{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_8(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^{N+1}[S_{2,1,1}(N)\zeta (3)S_1(N)+\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (2)^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)`$ (39)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)]`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_9(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^{N+1}\{S_{2,1,1}(N)+\mathrm{log}(2)[S_{2,1}(N)S_{2,1}(N)]`$ (40)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{log}^2(2)\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)`$
$`3\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{6}{5}}\zeta (2)^2{\displaystyle \frac{11}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{10}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^{N+1}\{S_{2,1,1}(N)+S_{2,1,1}(N)\mathrm{log}(2)[S_{2,1}(N)S_{2,1}(N)]`$ (41)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)\right]\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)\left[S_1(N)+\mathrm{log}(2)\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{20}}\zeta (2)^2\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{11}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^N\{S_{1,2,1}(N)+2S_{2,1,1}(N)2\zeta (3)S_1(N)\zeta (2)S_{1,1}(N)`$ (42)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{29}{40}}\zeta (2)^2+3\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{12}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^N\{S_{2,1,1}(N)+S_{2,1,1}(N)+S_{1,2,1}(N)`$ (43)
$`\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_{2,1}(N)+S_{1,2}(N)\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_{1,1}(N)`$
$`+\left[S_1(N)S_2(N)+S_3(N)\right]\mathrm{log}(2)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)\right]\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)`$
$`4\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\zeta )2)^2{\displaystyle \frac{21}{8}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{13}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^N\{S_{1,2,1}(N)+2S_{2,1,1}(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_{1,1}(N)`$ (44)
$`\mathrm{log}^2(2)\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]`$
$`+\mathrm{log}(2)[S_{2,1}(N)S_{1,2}(N)2S_{2,1}(N)+S_1(N)S_2(N)`$
$`+S_3(N){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_1(N)]`$
$`3\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{6}{5}}\zeta (2)^2{\displaystyle \frac{21}{8}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{14}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`2S_{1,1,1}(N)2\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_{1,1}(N)S_{1,1}(N)\right]\mathrm{log}^2(2)S_1(N)`$ (45)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (3)+\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2){\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}\mathrm{log}^3(2)`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{15}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{1,2,1}(N)+S_{2,1,1}(N)+S_{2,1,1}(N)\zeta (2)S_{1,1}(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{18}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)`$ (46)
$`\left[{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2)\right]\left[S_1(N)S_1(N)\right]+\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_{2,1}(N)2\zeta (3)\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left(\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)\right)\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]\mathrm{log}(2)\zeta (2)S_1(N)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{19}{4}}\zeta (2)^2\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{7}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{24}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{16}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`2S_{2,1,1}(N)+S_{1,2,1}(N)`$ (47)
$`+\mathrm{log}(2)\left[2\left(S_{2,1}(N)S_{2,1}(N)\right)+S_{1,2}(N)S_{1,2}(N)\right]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_{1,1}(N)\mathrm{log}^2(2)\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)`$
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (3){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2)\right)\left[S_1(N)S_1(N)\right]`$
$`+\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_{2,1}(N)\mathrm{log}(2)\left(S_2(N)S_2(N)\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_1(N)\right]`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{33}{20}}\zeta (2)^2+4\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right)+{\displaystyle \frac{13}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2){\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{17}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`2\left[S_{1,2,1}(N)+S_{1,1,2}(N)+S_{2,1,1}(N)\right]`$ (48)
$`+\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_{1,2}(N)S_{1,2}(N)S_{2,1}(N)+S_{2,1}(N)\right]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{log}^2(2)\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (2)S_{1,1}(N)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{7}{4}}\zeta (2)^24\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{21}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{18}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{2,1}(N)+2\zeta (3)`$ (49)
$`\text{M}\left[g_{19}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{2,1}(N)+\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)`$ (50)
$`\text{M}\left[g_{20}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{3,1}(N)\zeta (2)S_2(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)^2`$ (51)
$`\text{M}\left[g_{21}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{2,1,1}(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{6}{5}}\zeta (2)^2`$ (52)
$`\text{M}\left[g_{22}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`2S_{3,1}(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}S_4(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}S_2^2(N)2\zeta (2)S_2(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{10}}\zeta (2)^2`$ (53)
$`\text{M}\left[g_{23}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{3,1}(N)\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_3(N)S_3(N)\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_2(N)`$ (54)
$`+2\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{11}{10}}\zeta (2)^2+{\displaystyle \frac{7}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{24}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{2,1,1}(N)S_{2,1,1}(N)+\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_{2,1}(N)S_{2,1}(N)\right]`$ (55)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)\right]\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (2)^22\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right){\displaystyle \frac{7}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}\mathrm{log}^4(2)`$
$`\text{M}\left[g_{25}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{2,1,1}(N)\mathrm{log}(2)\left[S_{2,1}(N)S_{2,1}(N)\right]`$ (56)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{log}^2(2)\left[S_2(N)S_2(N)\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{40}}\zeta (2)^2`$
The above relations can be checked by numerical integration directly. In the code ANCONT we use the routines DAIND, Ref. , and verified these relations numerically for the integer moments $`Nϵ[1,20]`$ at an accuracy of better than at least $`410^9`$, and in many cases even of $`O(10^{12})`$.

## 4 Mellin Transforms for the Functions $`𝐟(𝐱)/(𝐱+\mathrm{𝟏})`$

For functions of the type

$$g_i(x)=\frac{f_i(x)}{x+1}$$
(57)
and $`f_i(x)ϵ𝒞^{\mathrm{}}[0,1[`$, cf. , one may expand $`f_i(x)`$ into a Taylor series around $`x=0`$,

$$f_i(x)=\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_kx^k.$$
(58)
The Mellin–transform is then given by

$$\text{M}\left[\frac{f_i(x)}{x+1}\right](N)=\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_k\beta (N+k+1).$$
(59)
Since the Mellin–transforms of the type $`\text{M}[\mathrm{log}^m(x)f(x)](N)`$ can be calculated using the relation

$`\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}^m(x)f(x)\right](N)={\displaystyle \frac{^N}{N^k}}\text{M}\left[f(x)\right](N),`$ (60)
one obtains

$$\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}^m(x)\frac{f_i(x)}{1+x}\right](N)=\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}a_k\beta ^{(m)}(N+k+1).$$
(61)
The function $`\beta ^{(m)}(z)`$ obeys the recursion relation

$$\beta ^{(m)}(z+1)=(1)^mm!\left[\frac{1}{(1+z)^{m+1}}\frac{1}{z^{m+1}}\right]+\beta ^{(m)}(z).$$
(62)
For the polylogarithms $`\text{Li}_l(\pm x)`$ one obtains

$$\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}^m(x)\frac{\text{Li}_l(\pm x)}{x+1}\right](N)=\underset{k=1}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{(\pm 1)^k}{k^l}\beta ^{(m)}(N+k+1),$$
(63)
as an example. Although these representations are quite general and may be applied to other Nielsen–integrals as well, the corresponding series may not converge fast enough.

Alternatively, the analytic continuation of the Mellin transforms containing the factor  $`(x+1)^1`$ can be performed using the transformation

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{f(x)}{1+x}}\right](N){\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑x{\displaystyle \frac{x^N}{x+1}}f(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{log}(2)f(1){\displaystyle _0^1}𝑑xx^{N1}\mathrm{log}(1+x)\left[Nf(x)+xf^{}(x)\right]`$ (64)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{log}(2)f(1){\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\{N\text{M}[f(x)](N+k1)`$
$`+\text{M}[f^{}(x)](N+k)\},`$
if $`f(x)`$ is differentiable in $`]0,1[`$. The function $`\mathrm{log}(1+x)`$ can be approximated by

$$\mathrm{ln}(1+x)\underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}a_k^{(1)}x^k,$$
(65)
with an accuracy better than $`3\times 10^8`$. The polynomial is determined using the approximation given by the MINIMAX–method  with an adaptive choice of arguments $`x`$. The coefficients $`a_k^{(1)}`$ are given by

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}a_1^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.999999974532238\mathrm{E}+0& a_2^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.499995525889840\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_3^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.333203435557262\mathrm{E}+0& a_4^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.248529457782640\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_5^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.191451164719161\mathrm{E}+0& a_6^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.137466222728331\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_7^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.792107412244877\mathrm{E}1& a_8^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.301109656912626\mathrm{E}1\\ a_9^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.538406208663153\mathrm{E}2& & & \end{array}`$ (67)
Similar representations are found in the literature cf. \[11–13\] and have been used in Ref.  before. Up to two–loop order also the representations of $`\mathrm{log}^k(1+x)`$ are needed with $`k=2,3`$,

$`\mathrm{ln}^2(1+x)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=2}{\overset{11}{}}}a_k^{(2)}x^k,`$ (68)
$`\mathrm{ln}^3(1+x)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=3}{\overset{13}{}}}a_k^{(3)}x^k.`$ (69)
The coefficients are

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}a_2^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.999999980543793\mathrm{E}+0& a_3^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.999995797779624\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_4^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.916516447393493\mathrm{E}+0& a_5^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.831229921350708\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_6^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.745873737923571\mathrm{E}+0& a_7^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.634523908078600\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_8^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.467104011423750\mathrm{E}+0& a_9^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.261348046799178\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_{10}^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.936814286867420\mathrm{E}1& a_{11}^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.156249375012462\mathrm{E}1\end{array}`$ (71)
and

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}a_3^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.999999989322696\mathrm{E}+0& a_4^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.149999722020708\mathrm{E}+1\\ a_5^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.174988008499745\mathrm{E}+1& a_6^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.187296689068405\mathrm{E}+1\\ a_7^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.191539974617231\mathrm{E}+1& a_8^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.185963744001295\mathrm{E}+1\\ a_9^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.162987195424434\mathrm{E}+1& a_{10}^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.117982353224299\mathrm{E}+1\\ a_{11}^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.628710122994999\mathrm{E}+0& a_{12}^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.211307487211713\mathrm{E}+0\\ a_{13}^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.328953352932140\mathrm{E}1& & & \end{array}`$ (73)
Eqs. (68,69) hold at an accuracy better than $`2\times 10^8`$ for $`xϵ[0,1]`$.

The Mellin–transforms of the functions $`\mathrm{log}(1+x)/(1+x)`$ and $`\mathrm{log}^2(1+x)/(1+x)`$ are obtained by

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}^k(1+x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k+1}}\left[\mathrm{log}^{k+1}(2)N\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}^{k+1}(1+x)\right](N1)\right]`$ (74)
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k+1}}\left[\mathrm{log}^{k+1}(2)N{\displaystyle \underset{l=k+1}{\overset{L_1(k+1)}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_l^{(k+1)}}{N+l}}\right].`$
with $`L_1(2)=11`$ and $`L_1(3)=13`$. Similarly the Mellin–transform of the function $`g_{17}(x)`$ is obtained by

$$\text{M}\left[\frac{\mathrm{log}(x)}{x1}\mathrm{log}^2(1+x)\right](N)=\underset{k=2}{\overset{11}{}}a_k^{(2)}\psi ^{}(N+k+1).$$
(75)
The remaining Mellin–transforms are obtained from the representation Eq. (64) and are expressed in terms of the known Mellin–transforms for the functions $`f(x)`$ and $`f^{}(x)`$, cf.  :

$`\text{M}\left[\text{Li}_2(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N+1}}\left[\zeta (2){\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+1)}{N+1}}\right]`$ (76)
$`\text{M}\left[\text{Li}_2^{}(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}(1x)\right](N1)={\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N)}{N}}`$ (77)
etc. The single harmonic sums $`S_{\pm k}(N)`$ are given in Eqs. (5,6).
One obtains the representations :

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2){\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\zeta (2)+{\displaystyle \frac{k}{(N+k)^2}}S_1(N+k)\right]`$ (78)
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\{{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (2)}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{k}{(N+k)^2}}[\mathrm{log}(2)`$ (79)
$`\beta (N+k+1)]\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}(x){\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{k}{(N+k)^2}}\left[\zeta (2)+\psi ^{}(k+1)2{\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+k)}{N+k}}\right]`$ (80)
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)`$ (81)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\zeta (3)+{\displaystyle \frac{k}{(N+k)^2}}\left[\zeta (2){\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+k)}{N+k}}\right]\right\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\{{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (3)+{\displaystyle \frac{k}{(N+k)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)`$ (82)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{k}{(N+k)^3}}[\mathrm{log}(2)\beta (N+k+1)]\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`\mathrm{log}(2)\zeta (3){\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\{{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\zeta (3)`$ (83)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{k}{(N+k)^2}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)]\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2){\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (3)}{8}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{l=2}{\overset{11}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_l^{(2)}}{N+k+l}}\right]`$ (84)
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=3}{\overset{13}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(3)}}{N+k}}`$
The function $`\text{S}_{1,2}(x^2)`$ does not occur singly but rather in the combination $`\text{S}_{1,2}(x^2)/2\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\text{S}_{1,2}(x)`$ in the Mellin–transforms which are related to the harmonic sums up to the level being investigated in the present paper. It emerges via the integral

$$I_1(x)=_0^x\frac{dz}{z}\mathrm{log}(1z)\mathrm{log}(1+z)=\frac{1}{2}\text{S}_{1,2}(x^2)\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\text{S}_{1,2}(x).$$
(85)
We firstly calculate the Mellin–transform for this integral. The Mellin–transform for $`\text{S}_{1,2}(x^2)`$ is then easily obtained by a linear combination using the relations given above.

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{I_1(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \underset{k=2}{\overset{11}{}}}a_k^{(2)}{\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+k)}{N+k}}`$ (86)
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3){\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_l^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+k+l)}{N+k+l}}\right].`$
| $`N`$ | Eq. (87) | Eq. (88) | Eq. (78) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 0 | -0.717E-03 | 0.969E-04 | 0.212E-08 |
| 1 | -0.117E-02 | 0.205E-03 | 0.442E-08 |
| 2 | -0.160E-02 | 0.292E-03 | 0.761E-08 |
| 3 | -0.207E-02 | 0.378E-03 | 0.117E-07 |
| 4 | -0.257E-02 | 0.452E-03 | 0.169E-07 |
| 5 | -0.308E-02 | 0.505E-03 | 0.232E-07 |
| 6 | -0.359E-02 | 0.531E-03 | 0.307E-07 |
| 7 | -0.410E-02 | 0.529E-03 | 0.397E-07 |
| 8 | -0.461E-02 | 0.501E-03 | 0.501E-07 |
| 9 | -0.511E-02 | 0.449E-03 | 0.622E-07 |
| 10 | -0.559E-02 | 0.376E-03 | 0.758E-07 |
| 11 | -0.607E-02 | 0.286E-03 | 0.909E-07 |
| 12 | -0.652E-02 | 0.181E-03 | 0.107E-06 |
| 13 | -0.697E-02 | 0.637E-04 | 0.125E-06 |
| 14 | -0.740E-02 | -0.630E-04 | 0.144E-06 |
| 15 | -0.782E-02 | -0.197E-03 | 0.164E-06 |
| 16 | -0.823E-02 | -0.338E-03 | 0.184E-06 |
| 17 | -0.862E-02 | -0.483E-03 | 0.205E-06 |
| 18 | -0.900E-02 | -0.632E-03 | 0.226E-06 |
| 19 | -0.936E-02 | -0.784E-03 | 0.247E-06 |
| 20 | -0.972E-02 | -0.936E-03 | 0.268E-06 |

Table 1: Comparison of the relative accuracy of different approximations for $`\text{M}\left[\text{Li}_2(x)/(1+x)\right](N)`$.

Since the harmonic sum $`S_{2,1}(N)`$ contributes already to the next–to–leading order anomalous dimensions, approximations for $`\text{M}\left[\text{Li}_2(x)/(1+x)\right](N)`$ have been used in the literature for some time . Two approximations used before are

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1.01}{N+2}}{\displaystyle \frac{0.846}{N+3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1.155}{N+4}}{\displaystyle \frac{1.074}{N+5}}+{\displaystyle \frac{0.55}{N+6}}`$ (87)
or

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $``$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1.004}{N+2}}{\displaystyle \frac{0.846}{N+3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1.342}{N+4}}{\displaystyle \frac{1.532}{N+5}}+{\displaystyle \frac{0.839}{N+6}},`$ (88)
cf. , which can be compared to our representation Eq. (78). In Table 1 the integer moments of these representations are given for $`Nϵ[0,20]`$. Eq. (78) is more precise than Eqs. (87,88) by three to four orders of magnitude. Other quantities were approximated by similar representations as (87,88) in  recently.

A Mellin–transform of a function carrying the factor $`\mathrm{log}(1x)/(1+x)`$ can be performed if the remainder factor obeys a polynomial representation, since the former factor may be transformed into the Mellin–transform of $`\mathrm{log}(1+x)/(1+x)`$, cf. Ref. . Eqs. (44,45), by

$$\text{M}\left[\frac{\mathrm{log}(1x)}{1+x}\right](N)=\text{M}\left[\frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)}{1+x}\right](N)\beta (N+1)\left[\psi (N+1)+\gamma _E\mathrm{log}(2)\right]+\beta ^{}(N+1).$$
(89)
Using Eq. (74) one obtains

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1x)\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(1)}}{k}}\{[\mathrm{log}^2(2){\displaystyle \underset{l=2}{\overset{11}{}}}a_l^{(2)}{\displaystyle \frac{N+k}{N+k+l}}]\beta ^{}(N+k+1).`$ (90)
$`+\beta (N+k+1)[S_1(N+k)\mathrm{log}(2)]\}.`$
The Mellin–transform of the function $`\mathrm{log}(1x)\text{Li}_2(x)/(1+x)`$ can be calculated similarly to the case which was discussed before. $`\text{Li}_2(x)`$ may be represented by

$$\text{Li}_2(x)P_0^{(1)}(x)+\left[P_1^{(1)}(x)+\mathrm{log}(1x)P_2^{(1)}(x)\right],$$
(91)
where $`P_{0,1,2}^{(1)}(x)`$ are the polynomials

$`P_0^{(1)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{11}{}}}c_k^{(1)}x^k`$ (92)
$`P_1^{(1)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{49}{36}}+\zeta (2)+{\displaystyle \frac{11}{6}}x{\displaystyle \frac{7}{12}}x^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{9}}x^3`$ (93)
$`P_2^{(1)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{11}{6}}3x+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}x^2{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}x^3.`$ (94)
with

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}c_0^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.283822933724932\mathrm{E}+0& c_1^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.999994319023731\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_2^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.124975762907682\mathrm{E}+1& c_3^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.607076808008983\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_4^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.280403220046588\mathrm{E}1& c_5^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.181869786537805\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_6^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.532318519269331\mathrm{E}+0& c_7^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.107281686995035\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_8^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.138194913357518\mathrm{E}+1& c_9^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.111100841298484\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_{10}^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.506649587198046\mathrm{E}+0& c_{11}^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.100672390783659\mathrm{E}+0\end{array}`$
The representation Eq. (91) holds at an accuracy of better than $`3\times 10^8`$ for $`xϵ[0,1]`$.

The Mellin transform of $`\mathrm{log}(1x)\text{Li}_2(x)/(1+x)`$ is thus expressed as a sum over Mellin transforms $`\text{M}[\mathrm{log}(1x)/(1+x)]N)`$, Eq. (89) and $`\text{M}[\mathrm{log}^2(1x)/(1+x)](N)`$. The latter expression is related to the harmonic sum $`S_{1,1,1}(N)`$, Eq. (60). This sum can be expressed by the sum $`S_{1,1,1}(N)`$ and lower order harmonic sums through

$`S_{1,1,1}(N)`$ $`=`$ $`S_{1,1,1}(N)+S_1(N)S_{1,1}(N)+S_{2,1}(N)+S_{1,2}(N)`$ (96)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[S_1^2(N)S_1(N)S_1(N)S_2(N)\right]S_3(N).`$
The harmonic sum $`S_{1,1,1}(N)`$ is related to $`\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}^2(1+x)/(1+x)\right](N)`$, which can be calculated using the representation (69) and lower order Mellin transforms. A simpler representation of $`\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}^2(1x)/(1+x)\right](N)`$ is given by

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}^2(1x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{k}{N+k}}\left[S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)\right]\left[S_1^2(k)+S_2(k)\right]\right\}`$ (97)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{7}{4}}\zeta (3)\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\mathrm{log}^3(2)`$
referring to (65). Similarly

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\left\{{\displaystyle \frac{k}{N+k}}S_1(N+K)S_1(k)\right\}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\left[\mathrm{log}^2(2)\zeta (2)\right].`$ (98)
holds. The above relations yield

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1x)\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{11}{}}}c_k^{(1)}\{{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}[\mathrm{log}^2(2)\zeta (2)]`$ (99)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_l^{(1)}[{\displaystyle \frac{l}{N+k+l}}S_1(N+k+l)S_1(l)]\}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{3}{}}}P_{2,k}^{(1)}\{{\displaystyle \frac{7}{4}}\zeta (3)\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\mathrm{log}^3(2)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_l^{(1)}[{\displaystyle \frac{l}{N+k+l}}[S_1^2(N+k+l)+S_2(N+k+l)]`$
$`S_1^2(l)S_2(l)]\}.`$
Finally, the Mellin–transform of $`\mathrm{log}(1+x)\text{Li}_2(x)/(1+x)`$ is given by

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)\text{Li}_2(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{4}}\zeta (2)\mathrm{log}^2(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\{{\displaystyle \underset{k=3}{\overset{13}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(3)}}{N+k}}`$ (100)
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{k=2}{\overset{11}{}}}a_k^{(2)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2){\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(2)\beta (N+k+1)}{N+k}}]\}`$
## 5 Mellin Transforms for the Functions $`𝐟(𝐱)/(𝐱\mathrm{𝟏})`$

For this class of Mellin–transforms the role of $`\mathrm{log}(1+x)`$ in the previous section is taken by $`\mathrm{log}(1x)`$, provided the functions $`f(x)`$ in the numerator do vanish at a sufficient degree as $`x1`$. Unlike $`\mathrm{log}(1+x)`$, the function $`\mathrm{log}(1x)`$ has no simple polynomial representation in the range $`xϵ[0,1[`$ at a comparable accuracy to Eq. (65). One may be tempted to express the numerator functions in a series of $`\mathrm{log}(1x)`$ instead. This is indeed possible for a wide class of Nielsen integrals as $`\mathrm{S}_{1,p}(x)`$ in a simple manner, cf. also ,

$$\mathrm{S}_{1,p}(x)=\frac{1}{p!}\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{B_k}{k!}\frac{(1)^k}{p+k}\mathrm{log}^{p+k}(1x),$$
(101)
with $`B_k`$ the Bernoulli numbers.<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1For other Nielsen integrals, as already for $`\text{Li}_l(x),l3`$, the serial expansion in $`\mathrm{log}(1x)`$ leads no longer to optimal representations due to the emergence of nested multiple series, see  for an example. The Taylor expansion of $`\mathrm{log}^k(1x)`$ is given by

$`\mathrm{log}^k(1x)=(1)^kk!{\displaystyle \underset{l=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}}\left[\begin{array}{c}n\\ m\end{array}\right]{\displaystyle \frac{x^l}{l!}}.`$ (104)
Here $`\left[\begin{array}{c}n\\ m\end{array}\right]`$ denote the Stirling–numbers of the first kind . The Mellin–transform is given by

$`\text{M}\left[\mathrm{log}^k(1x)\right](N)=(1)^kk!{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}S_{\underset{k}{\underset{}{\text{1, …, 1}}}}(N)={\displaystyle \frac{^k}{b^k}}B(N,b+1)|_{b=0},`$ (105)
where $`B(a,b)`$ denote Euler’s Beta function. The finite multiple harmonic sums $`S_{\underset{k}{\underset{}{\text{1, …, 1}}}}(N)`$ are given in , Eq. (158), and obey a determinant–representation. The elements of the corresponding matrix are numbers and the single harmonic sums

$`S_l(N)={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k^l}}={\displaystyle \frac{(1)^{l1}}{(l1)!}}\psi ^{(l1)}(N+1)+c_l`$ (106)
with $`c_1=\gamma _E`$ and $`c_l=\zeta (l)`$ for $`l>1`$. In this way one obtains the analytic continuations. With growing values of $`k`$ the explicit expressions become rather lengthly. For numerical computations one may use the recursion relation, Eq. (164), in Ref. ,

$`S_{\underset{k}{\underset{}{\text{1, …, 1}}}}(N)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{k}}{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{k}{}}}S_l(N)S_{\underset{kl}{\underset{}{\text{1, …, 1}}}}(N)`$ (107)
for complex values of $`N`$. Alternatively to these exact expressions one might also use the Taylor series Eq. (104) for which the Mellin–transform is easily calculated. The Stirling–numbers of the first kind can be represented using a recursion relation, cf. Eqs. (166,167) in Ref. . The Mellin transform of $`\mathrm{S}_{1,p}(x)`$ is thus given by

$$\text{M}\left[\mathrm{S}_{1,p}(x)\right](N)=\frac{(1)^p}{p!}\underset{k=0}{\overset{\mathrm{}}{}}\frac{B_k}{k!}\frac{1}{p+k}\frac{1}{N}S_{\underset{p+k}{\underset{}{\text{1, …, 1}}}}(N).$$
(108)
On the other hand the representation

$$\text{M}\left[\mathrm{S}_{1,p}(x)\right](N)=\frac{\zeta (n+1)}{N}\frac{1}{N^2}S_{\underset{p}{\underset{}{\text{1, …, 1}}}}(N)$$
(109)
is obtained by partial integration. This relation is more compact than the former. Eqs. (108,109) imply an interesting relation between the multiple finite harmonic sums of a single index and the Bernoulli numbers and the $`\zeta `$–function.

Since not all Nielsen integrals which we are considering in the present paper can be expressed easily as a series in $`\mathrm{log}(1x)`$ and the corresponding series are found to converge not fast enough in a series of cases we are going to apply a somewhat modified representation. To guarantee a fast convergence also in the range of large values of $`x\stackrel{<}{}1`$ we subtract from some of the numerator functions a polynomial in $`\mathrm{log}(1x)`$ and $`x`$ of low degree. The remainder function is expanded into a polynomial by the MINIMAX–method. In both cases the Mellin transforms can be calculated analytically afterwards. In some cases further partial integrations have to be performed. Let us now discuss the individual cases in detail.

Some of the Mellin–transforms are of the type

$$\text{M}\left[\frac{\mathrm{log}^k(1+x)\mathrm{log}^k(2)}{x1}f(x)\right](N),$$
(110)
where $`k=1,2`$. The first factor in Eq. (110) can be represented by a polynomial. Here the denominator is divided out of a polynomial representation of the numerator. The corresponding approximations are found applying the MINIMAX–method,

$$\frac{\mathrm{log}^l(1+x)\mathrm{log}^l(2)}{x1}\underset{k=0}{\overset{L(k)}{}}b_k^{(l)}x^k,$$
(111)
with $`L(1)=8`$ and $`L(2)=9`$. The expansion coefficients are given by

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}b_0^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.693147166991375\mathrm{E}+0& b_1^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.306850436868254\mathrm{E}+0\\ b_2^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.193078041088284\mathrm{E}+0& b_3^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.139403892894644\mathrm{E}+0\\ b_4^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.105269615988049\mathrm{E}+0& b_5^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.746801353858524\mathrm{E}1\\ b_6^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.427339135378207\mathrm{E}1& b_7^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.161809049989783\mathrm{E}1\\ b_8^{\left(1\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.288664611077007\mathrm{E}2& & & \end{array}`$ (113)
and

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}b_0^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.480453024731510\mathrm{E}+0& b_1^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.480450679641120\mathrm{E}+0\\ b_2^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.519463586324817\mathrm{E}+0& b_3^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.479285947990175\mathrm{E}+0\\ b_4^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.427765744446172\mathrm{E}+0& b_5^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.360855321373065\mathrm{E}+0\\ b_6^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.263827078164263\mathrm{E}+0& b_7^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.146927719341510\mathrm{E}+0\\ b_8^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.525105367350968\mathrm{E}1& b_9^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.874144396622167\mathrm{E}2\end{array}`$ (115)
The related Mellin–transforms have the representation

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)\mathrm{log}(2)}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{8}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{b_k^{(1)}}{N+k+1}},`$ (116)
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}^2(1+x)\mathrm{log}^2(2)}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{9}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{b_k^{(2)}}{N+k+1}},`$ (117)
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)\mathrm{log}(2)}{x1}}\text{Li}_2(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{8}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{b_k^{(1)}}{N+k+1}}\left[\zeta (2){\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+k+1)}{N+k+1}}\right]`$ (118)
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(1+x)\mathrm{log}(2)}{x1}}\text{Li}_2(x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{8}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{b_k^{(1)}}{N+k+1}}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)+{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(2)\beta (N+k+2)}{N+k+1}}\right]`$
In the case of the remaining Mellin–transforms of the type

$$\text{M}\left[\frac{f(x)f(1)}{x1}\right](N)$$
(120)
firstly the integral

$$F(x)=_0^x𝑑z\frac{f(z)f(1)}{z1}$$
(121)
is evaluated leading to

$$\text{M}\left[\frac{f(x)f(1)}{x1}\right](N)=F(1)N\text{M}\left[F(x)\right](N1).$$
(122)
We now seek for an appropriate representation of the functions $`F(x)`$. The respective functions are :

$`{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(z)\zeta (2)}{z1}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\text{Li}_2(x)\zeta (2)\right]\mathrm{log}(1x)+2\text{S}_{1,2}(x)`$ (123)
$`{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(z)+\zeta (2)/2}{z1}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\text{Li}_2(x)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\right]\mathrm{log}(1x)+I_1(x)`$ (124)
$`{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(z)\zeta (3)}{z1}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\text{Li}_3(x)\zeta (3)\right]\mathrm{log}(1x)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\text{Li}_2^2(x)`$ (125)
$`{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(z)\zeta (3)}{z1}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\zeta (3)\right]\mathrm{log}(1x)+3\mathrm{S}_{1,3}(x)`$ (126)
Here one may use the representation

$`\text{Li}_2(x)={\displaystyle _0^x}{\displaystyle \frac{dy}{y}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}y^k={\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(1)}}{k}}x^k.`$ (127)
We derive approximations for $`\text{Li}_3(x),\text{S}_{1,2}(x),\text{Li}_2^2(x)`$ and $`I_1(x)`$ to be able to perform the Mellin–transform using these semi–analytic expressions. Here it is of particular importance to account for the $`\mathrm{log}^k(1x)`$ behavior as $`x1`$. One obtains

$`\text{Li}_3(x)`$ $``$ $`P_0^{(2)}(x)+\left[P_1^{(2)}(x)+\mathrm{log}(1x)P_2^{(2)}(x)\right],`$ (128)
$`\text{S}_{1,2}(x)`$ $``$ $`P_0^{(3)}(x)+\left[P_1^{(3)}(x)+\mathrm{log}(1x)P_2^{(3)}(x)+\mathrm{log}^2(1x)P_3^{(3)}(x)\right],`$ (129)
$`\text{Li}_2^2(x)`$ $``$ $`P_0^{(4)}(x)+\left[P_1^{(4)}(x)+\mathrm{log}(1x)P_2^{(4)}(x)+\mathrm{log}^2(1x)P_3^{(4)}(x)\right],`$ (130)
where $`P_{0,1,2}^{(k)}(x)`$ are the polynomials

$`P_0^{(2)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{12}{}}}c_k^{(2)}x^k`$ (131)
$`P_1^{(2)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\zeta (3){\displaystyle \frac{11}{6}}\zeta (2)+{\displaystyle \frac{4}{3}}+\left(3\zeta (2){\displaystyle \frac{13}{4}}\right)x\left({\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}\zeta (2){\displaystyle \frac{5}{2}}\right)x^2+\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{3}}\zeta (2){\displaystyle \frac{7}{12}}\right)x^3`$
$`P_2^{(2)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`1+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{2}}x2x^2+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}x^3,`$ (133)
with

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}c_0^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.480322239287459\mathrm{E}+0& c_1^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.168480825099837\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_2^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.209270571633447\mathrm{E}+1& c_3^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.101728150522737\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_4^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.160180000661971\mathrm{E}+0& c_5^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.351982379713689\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_6^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.141033369447519\mathrm{E}+1& c_7^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.353344124579927\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_8^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.593934899678262\mathrm{E}+1& c_9^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.660019998525006\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_{10}^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.466330491799074\mathrm{E}+1& c_{11}^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.189825521858848\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_{12}^{\left(2\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.339773000152805\mathrm{E}+0& & & \end{array}`$
$`P_0^{(3)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{9}{}}}c_k^{(3)}x^k`$ (135)
$`P_1^{(3)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\zeta (3){\displaystyle \frac{2035}{1728}}+{\displaystyle \frac{205}{144}}x{\displaystyle \frac{95}{288}}x^2+{\displaystyle \frac{43}{432}}x^3{\displaystyle \frac{1}{64}}x^4`$ (136)
$`P_2^{(3)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{205}{144}}{\displaystyle \frac{25}{12}}x+{\displaystyle \frac{23}{24}}x^2{\displaystyle \frac{13}{36}}x^3+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{16}}x^4`$ (137)
$`P_3^{(3)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{25}{24}}+2x{\displaystyle \frac{3}{2}}x^2+{\displaystyle \frac{2}{3}}x^3{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}x^4,`$ (138)
with

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}c_0^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.243948949064443\mathrm{E}1& c_1^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.000005136294145\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_2^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.249849075518710\mathrm{E}+0& c_3^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.498290708990997\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_4^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.354866791547134\mathrm{E}+0& c_5^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.522116678353452\mathrm{E}1\\ c_6^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.648354706049337\mathrm{E}1& c_7^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.644165053822532\mathrm{E}1\\ c_8^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.394927322542075\mathrm{E}1& c_9^{\left(3\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.100879370657869\mathrm{E}1\end{array}`$
$`P_0^{(4)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{12}{}}}c_k^{(4)}x^k`$ (140)
$`P_1^{(4)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{257}{144}}{\displaystyle \frac{205}{72}}\zeta (2)+\zeta (2)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{167}{36}}{\displaystyle \frac{25}{6}}\zeta (2)\right)x+\left({\displaystyle \frac{101}{24}}{\displaystyle \frac{23}{12}}\zeta (2)\right)x^2`$ (141)
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{59}{36}}{\displaystyle \frac{13}{18}}\zeta (2)\right)x^3+\left({\displaystyle \frac{41}{144}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (2)\right)x^4`$
$`P_2^{(4)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`\left({\displaystyle \frac{167}{36}}{\displaystyle \frac{25}{6}}\zeta (2)\right)+\left({\displaystyle \frac{235}{18}}8\zeta (2)\right)x\left({\displaystyle \frac{40}{3}}6\zeta (2)\right)x^2+\left({\displaystyle \frac{109}{18}}{\displaystyle \frac{8}{3}}\zeta (2)\right)x^3`$ (142)
$`\left({\displaystyle \frac{41}{36}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)\right)x^4`$
$`P_3^{(4)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{35}{12}}{\displaystyle \frac{26}{3}}x+{\displaystyle \frac{19}{2}}x^2{\displaystyle \frac{14}{3}}x^3+{\displaystyle \frac{11}{12}}x^4,`$ (143)
with

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}c_0^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.192962504274437\mathrm{E}+0& c_1^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.000005641557253\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_2^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.196891075399448\mathrm{E}+1& c_3^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.392919138747074\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_4^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.290306105685546\mathrm{E}+1& c_5^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.992890266001707\mathrm{E}+0\\ c_6^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.130026190226546\mathrm{E}+1& c_7^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.341870577921103\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_8^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.576763902370864\mathrm{E}+1& c_9^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.645554138192407\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_{10}^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.459405622046138\mathrm{E}+1& c_{11}^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.188510809558304\mathrm{E}+1\\ c_{12}^{\left(4\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.340476080290674\mathrm{E}+0& & & \end{array}`$ (145)
These representations hold at an accuracy of better than $`2\times 10^8,3\times 10^8`$, and $`2\times 10^8`$, respectively, for $`xϵ[0,1]`$.

In the case of the function $`I_1(x)`$, Eq. (25), the function $`\mathrm{log}(1+x)`$ in the integrand can be approximated by Eq. (65). The integral can then be evaluated analytically and takes the form

$$I_1(x)=P_0^{(5)}(x)+P_2^{(5)}(x)\mathrm{log}(1x),$$
(146)
with

$`P_0^{(5)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}c_k^{(5)}x^k`$ (147)
$`P_2^{(5)}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{9}{}}}d_k^{(5)}x^k.`$ (148)
The coefficients $`c_k^{(5)}`$ and $`d_k^{(5)}`$ are algebraically related to the coefficients $`a_k^{(1)}`$, Eq. (65). Their numerical values are

$`\begin{array}{cccccc}c_1^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.822467033400776\mathrm{E}+0& c_2^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.887664705657325\mathrm{E}1\\ c_3^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.241549406045162\mathrm{E}1& c_4^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.965074750946139\mathrm{E}2\\ c_5^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.470587487919749\mathrm{E}2& c_6^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.246014308378549\mathrm{E}2\\ c_7^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.116431121874067\mathrm{E}2& c_8^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.395705193848026\mathrm{E}3\\ c_9^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.664699010014505\mathrm{E}4& & & \end{array}`$ (150)
$`\begin{array}{cccccc}d_0^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.822467033400776\mathrm{E}+0& d_1^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.999999974532241\mathrm{E}+0\\ d_2^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.249997762945014\mathrm{E}+0& d_3^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.111067811851394\mathrm{E}+0\\ d_4^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.621323644338330\mathrm{E}1& d_5^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.382902328987004\mathrm{E}1\\ d_6^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.229110370338977\mathrm{E}1& d_7^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.113158200819689\mathrm{E}1\\ d_8^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.376387065979726\mathrm{E}2& d_9^{\left(5\right)}\hfill & =& \hfill 0.598229109013054\mathrm{E}3\end{array}`$ (152)
This representation holds at an accuracy of better than $`3\times 10^8`$ for $`xϵ[0,1]`$.

The Mellin–transforms of the above polynomials are :

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{m}{}}}A_kx^k\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{m+1}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{A_{k1}}{N+k}}`$ (153)
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{m}{}}}A_kx^k\mathrm{log}^l(1x)\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`(1)^ll!{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{m}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{A_{k1}}{N+k}}S_{\underset{l}{\underset{}{\text{1, …, 1}}}}(N+k).`$ (154)
Here,

$`S_{1,1}(N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2!}}\left[S_1^2(N)+S_2(N)\right]`$ (155)
$`S_{1,1,1}(N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{3!}}\left[S_1^3(N)+3S_1(N)S_2(N)+2S_3(N)\right].`$ (156)
The Mellin transforms of the functions $`g_{18}(x)g_{22}(x)`$ are then given represented by

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)\zeta (2)}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N}}\left[S_1^2(N)+S_2(N)\right]\zeta (2)S_1(N)+{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{11}{}}}c_k^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}S_1(N+k)`$ (157)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{3}{}}}P_{1,k}^{(2)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\left[S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)\right]`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_2(x)+\zeta (2)/2}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)S_1(N){\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(1)}}{k}}S_1(N+k)`$ (158)
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)\zeta (3)}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)^2\zeta (3)S_1(N)+{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{12}{}}}c_k^{(2)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}S_1(N+k)`$ (159)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{3}{}}}P_{2,k}^{(2)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\left[S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)\right]{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{12}{}}}c_k^{(4)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{N}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{4}{}}}\left[P_{2,k}^{(4)}{\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+k)}{N+k}}P_{3,k}^{(4)}{\displaystyle \frac{S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)}{N+k}}\right]`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\zeta (3)}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`\zeta (3)S_1(N)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2N}}\left[S_1^3(N)+2S_1(N)S_2(N)+2S_3(N)\right]`$ (160)
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{9}{}}}c_k^{(3)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}S_1(N+k)+{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{4}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\{P_{3,k}^{(3)}`$
$`\left[S_1^3(N+k)+3S_1(N+k)S_2(N+k)+2S_3(N+k)\right]`$
$`P_{2,k}^{(3)}[S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)]\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}(x)\text{Li}_2(x)}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{11}{}}}c_k^{(1)}\psi ^{}(N+k+1)`$ (161)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{3}{}}}P_{2,k}^{(1)}\left[S_1(N+k)\psi ^{}(N+k+1){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\psi ^{\prime \prime }(N+k+1)\right]`$
A set of other integrals we are going to re–write in terms of integrals of the type $`_0^x𝑑zf_2(z)/(1+z)`$, the Mellin–transforms of which are then evaluated using Eq. (64). The following integral relations are obtained :

$`{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(z)+(3/4)\zeta (3)}{z1}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\text{Li}_3(x)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (3)\right]\mathrm{log}(1x)+\text{Li}_2(x)\text{Li}_2(x)`$ (162)
$`+\text{Li}_3(x)\mathrm{log}(1+x){\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(z)}{1+z}}`$
$`{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{I_1(z)+(5/8)\zeta (3)}{z1}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[I_1(x)+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)\right]\mathrm{log}(1x)2\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\mathrm{log}(1+x)`$ (163)
$`+2{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(z)}{1+z}}`$
$`{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(z)\zeta (3)/8}{z1}}`$ $`=`$ $`\left[\text{S}_{1,2}(x){\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (3)\right]\mathrm{log}(1x){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}I_1(x)\mathrm{log}(1+x)`$ (164)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _0^x}𝑑z{\displaystyle \frac{I_1(z)}{1+z}}`$
Here one may represent $`\text{Li}_3(x)`$ and $`\text{S}_{1,2}(x)`$ by

$`\text{Li}_3(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(1)}}{k^2}}x^k`$ (165)
$`\text{S}_{1,2}(x)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=2}{\overset{11}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(2)}}{k}}x^k.`$ (166)
The Mellin transforms pf $`g_{22}(x)g_{25}(x)`$ are represented by

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)+3\zeta (3)/3}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\zeta (2)^2+\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{Li}_3(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ (167)
$`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\{\zeta (3){\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (2)}{N+k}}`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{\zeta (2)}{k}}+S_1(N+k)[{\displaystyle \frac{1}{(N+k)^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k^2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{k(N+k)}}]\}`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{I_1(x)+5\zeta (3)/8}{x1}}\right](N)=2\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+2\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{S_{1,2}(x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ (168)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\left[2\zeta (3){\displaystyle \frac{S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)}{N+k}}\right]`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}c_k^{(5)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}S_1(N+k){\displaystyle \underset{k=0}{\overset{9}{}}}d_k^{(5)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}\left[S_1^2(N+k)+S_2(N+k)\right]`$
$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\text{S}_{1,2}(x)\zeta (3)/8}{x1}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{5}{16}}\zeta (3)\mathrm{log}(2)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{I_1(x)}{1+x}}\right](N){\displaystyle \frac{1}{8}}\zeta (3)S_1(N)`$ (169)
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=2}{\overset{11}{}}}{\displaystyle \frac{a_k^{(2)}}{k}}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}S_1(N+k)+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{N}{N+k}}[{\displaystyle \frac{5}{8}}\zeta (3)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{l=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_l^{(1)}{\displaystyle \frac{S_1(N+k+l)}{N+k+l}}]`$
We finally would like to add a remark on a recent analysis of the two–loop coefficient functions of deep inelastic scattering . The representation given there also contains the harmonic sum $`S_{1,1,1,1}(N)`$ which was not needed to express the individual Mellin transforms in Refs. , cf. Ref. , which may be caused due to the algebraic relations being applied in . This sum has the representation

$`S_{1,1,1,1}(N)=(1)^{N+1}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{6}}\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}^3(1x)}{1+x}}\right](N)\text{Li}_4\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\right).`$ (170)
The Mellin transform of the function $`\mathrm{log}^3(1x)/(1+x)`$ for complex argument is easily obtained,

$`\text{M}\left[{\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{log}^3(1x)}{1+x}}\right](N)`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{9}{}}}a_k^{(1)}\{{\displaystyle \frac{k}{N+k}}[S_1^3(N+k)+3S_1(N+k)S_2(N+k)+2S_3(N+k)]`$ (171)
$`[S_1^3(k)+3S_1(k)S_2(k)+2S_3(k)]\}6\text{Li}_4({\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}).`$
The above relations allow to express the Mellin transforms of all functions emerging in the coefficient functions and anomalous dimensions of massless gauge theories up to two–loop order and to evaluate their analytic continuation from integer to complex arguments.

## 6 The Code ANCONT

### 6.1 General Structure

The code ANCONT calculates the Mellin transforms of the basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ both for integer and complex values of the Mellin index N. The parameters of the code are initialized in

SUBROUTINE ACINI.

The calculations are performed in

SUBROUTINE ACRUN.

The code ends with

SUBROUTINE ACEND.

### 6.2 USER routines

The user may access parts of the code via the user routines UINIT, URUN and UOUT. These routines are called in ACINI, ACRUN and ACEND, respectively. SUBROUTINE UINIT may be used to actualize the running parameters. Via URUN the user may built her/his own Mellin convolutions or other functions of the basic functions and their Mellin transforms for positive integer or complex Mellin index using the functions ACG$`i`$, FCT$`i`$ or XCG$`i`$, which are described below, as a library. SUBROUTINE UOUT may be used as an output-interface at the end of the code. To transfer data between different user routines the user may define COMMON-blocks named

COMMON/USxxxx/ …

### 6.3 Initialization

The main parameters and constants of the code are defined in SUBROUTINE ACINI. This routine calls the subroutines INVINI, DEFAUL and the user routine UINIT. SUBROUTINE INVINI sets parameters and constants related to the Mellin inversion. The default running parameters of the code are set in SUBROUTINE DEFAUL. These are :

IRUN = 0
ITEST1 = 1
ITEST2 = 1
ITEST3 = 1
IMIN = 1
IMAX = 26
IAPP = 1
NMIN = 1
NMAX = 20
EPS = 1.0D-9

The running parameters are printed by SUBROUTINE WROUT. The parameters ITEST$`i`$ initialize tests of the code, which are inactive for ITEST$`i`$.NE.1. For ITEST1.EQ.1 the representation of the moments of the basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ for positive integer index by harmonic sums are compared to those obtained by numerical integration. ITEST2.EQ.1 induces a comparison of the representations for the analytic continuation of the Mellin transform of the basic functions with those by the harmonic sums for positive integer index. For ITEST3.EQ.1 a comparison is made for the Mellin inversion using the analytic continuations of the Mellin transforms of the basic functions and the numerical representations of the basic functions in the range $`xϵ[10^7,0.99]`$.

IMIN and IMAX mark the index range of basic functions to be used. Likewise NMIN and NMAX set the minimum and maximum positive integer moment for the tests.

IAPP selects the representation of the analytic continuation for $`g_3(x)=\text{Li}_2(x)/(1+x)`$ to compare the representations Eq. (78) IAPP = 1 and (87) IAPP=2, (88) IAPP=3, respectively.

EPS  (REAL\*8) is a pilot parameter for the numerical integration of the program DAIND  and denotes the relative numerical accuracy to be obtained.

The above parameters are available through the COMMON-blocks

COMMON/TEST/ ITEST1, ITEST2,ITEST3
COMMON/RUN / IRUN
COMMON/MOMPA/ NMIN,NMAX
COMMON/FUNPA/ IMIN,IMAX
COMMON/IAPP/ IAPP
COMMON/EP/ EPS.

### 6.4 Running

The code provides three main lines, which are initialized setting the parameters ITEST1, ITEST2, ITEST3 = 1, respectively.

For ITEST1= 1 the representations of the integer moments of the basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ in terms of harmonic sums are tested comparing them with the corresponding numerical integrals. The value of the Mellin moment is calculated. The relative accuracy comparing both calculations RAT = VAL1/VAL2 -1 and the value of the moment are provided. The following test-output is obtained for $`k=9`$, $`g_9(x)=\text{S}_{1,2}(x)/(1+x)`$, $`n_1=2,n_2=20,val=1.0`$D-9. Here N denotes the Mellin index, RATk the relative accuracy comparing the numerical integration and the representation by harmonic sums, and VAL the value of the Mellin moment.

```
 ****************************************************************
 N,RAT9,VAL=  2   -1.983302411190380E-12   1.784970126521851E-02
 N,RAT9,VAL=  3   -1.992739306899693E-12   1.447619078834311E-02
 N,RAT9,VAL=  4   -1.742939126359033E-12   1.216425178651454E-02
 N,RAT9,VAL=  5   -1.722177955798543E-12   1.048399327332255E-02
 N,RAT9,VAL=  6   -1.469158128486470E-12   9.208975593568651E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL=  7   -1.485589429250922E-12   8.209008584718454E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL=  8   -1.187272502534142E-12   7.404084086538535E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL=  9   -1.256883486178140E-12   6.742389451876160E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 10   -1.036948304999896E-12   6.188923213501677E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 11   -8.926193117986259E-13   5.719203265306224E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 12   -8.733014311701481E-13   5.315598831318883E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 13   -7.922551503725117E-13   4.965094655720756E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 14   -5.925260282424460E-13   4.657875778975199E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 15   -6.212808045802376E-13   4.386402245697693E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 16   -3.986810881428937E-13   4.144786898528877E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 17   -4.581890422628021E-13   3.928366556207149E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 18   -1.886268918838141E-13   3.733399977739974E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 19   -3.899103262483550E-13   3.556850973662370E-03
 N,RAT9,VAL= 20   -1.719735465144367E-13   3.396229940556720E-03
 ****************************************************************

```

For ITEST2= 1 the representations of the Mellin transforms of the basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ valid for complex arguments are compared to the representation in terms of harmonic sums at positive integer argument. The value of the Mellin moment is calculated. The relative accuracy comparing both calculations RAT = VAL1/VAL2 -1 and the value of the moment are provided. The relative accuracy of these representations are given in Table 2 for $`N=2`$ to 20.

| $`N`$ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | -1.06E-09 | 5.62E-10 | 7.61E-09 | 3.52E-09 | -6.94E-09 | 4.67E-09 |
| 3 | -2.09E-09 | 1.06E-09 | 1.18E-08 | 6.27E-09 | -1.15E-08 | 7.85E-09 |
| 4 | -3.48E-09 | 1.72E-09 | 1.69E-08 | 9.92E-09 | -1.79E-08 | 1.20E-08 |
| 5 | -5.28E-09 | 2.54E-09 | 2.32E-08 | 1.46E-08 | -2.58E-08 | 1.72E-08 |
| 6 | -7.50E-09 | 3.55E-09 | 3.07E-08 | 2.04E-08 | -3.62E-08 | 2.36E-08 |
| 7 | -1.02E-08 | 3.97E-08 | 4.74E-09 | 2.75E-08 | -4.92E-08 | 3.14E-08 |
| 8 | -1.34E-08 | 6.15E-09 | 5.01E-08 | 3.61E-08 | -6.47E-08 | 4.07E-08 |
| 9 | -1.72E-08 | 7.78E-09 | 6.22E-08 | 4.63E-08 | -8.21E-08 | 5.17E-08 |
| 10 | -2.17E-08 | 9.67E-09 | 7.58E-08 | 5.82E-08 | -1.01E-07 | 6.43E-08 |
| 11 | -2.69E-08 | 1.18E-08 | 9.09E-08 | 7.18E-08 | -1.12E-07 | 7.86E-08 |
| 12 | -3.28E-08 | 1.43E-08 | 1.07E-07 | 8.70E-08 | -1.38E-07 | 9.45E-08 |
| 13 | -3.94E-08 | 1.70E-08 | 1.25E-07 | 1.04E-07 | -1.56E-07 | 1.12E-07 |
| 14 | -4.67E-08 | 2.01E-08 | 1.44E-07 | 1.22E-07 | -1.72E-07 | 1.30E-07 |
| 15 | -5.47E-08 | 2.34E-08 | 1.64E-07 | 1.41E-07 | -1.85E-07 | 1.50E-07 |
| 16 | -6.34E-08 | 2.71E-08 | 1.84E-07 | 1.61E-07 | -1.96E-07 | 1.70E-07 |
| 17 | -7.27E-08 | 3.11E-08 | 2.05E-07 | 1.82E-07 | -2.03E-07 | 1.91E-07 |
| 18 | -8.26E-08 | 3.54E-08 | 2.26E-07 | 2.03E-07 | -2.08E-07 | 2.12E-07 |
| 19 | -9.29E-08 | 3.99E-08 | 2.47E-07 | 2.24E-07 | -2.09E-07 | 2.34E-07 |
| 20 | -1.04E-07 | 4.47E-08 | 2.68E-07 | 2.46E-07 | -2.07E-07 | 2.56E-07 |

| $`N`$ | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | 3.67E-09 | 2.47E-08 | 6.04E-09 | -9.99E-09 | 9.43E-09 | -3.16E-10 |
| 3 | 6.48E-09 | 3.25E-08 | 9.77E-09 | -1.03E-08 | 1.40E-08 | -6.46E-10 |
| 4 | 1.02E-08 | 4.15E-08 | 1.45E-08 | -9.44E-09 | 1.93E-08 | -1.05E-09 |
| 5 | 1.49E-08 | 5.16E-08 | 2.02E-08 | -7.45E-09 | 2.54E-08 | -1.52E-09 |
| 6 | 2.08E-08 | 6.29E-08 | 2.72E-08 | -4.20E-09 | 3.22E-08 | -2.07E-09 |
| 7 | 2.80E-08 | 7.56E-08 | 3.57E-08 | 4.18E-10 | 3.98E-08 | -2.72E-09 |
| 8 | 3.67E-08 | 8.94E-08 | 4.57E-08 | 6.48E-09 | 4.80E-08 | -3.46E-09 |
| 9 | 4.71E-08 | 1.04E-07 | 5.74E-08 | 1.40E-08 | 5.68E-08 | -4.31E-09 |
| 10 | 5.91E-08 | 1.20E-07 | 7.09E-08 | 2.31E-08 | 6.59E-08 | -5.28E-09 |
| 11 | 7.28E-08 | 1.37E-07 | 8.60E-08 | 3.36E-08 | 7.53E-08 | -6.37E-09 |
| 12 | 8.81E-08 | 1.54E-07 | 1.03E-07 | 4.55E-08 | 8.48E-08 | -7.57E-09 |
| 13 | 1.05E-07 | 1.72E-07 | 1.21E-07 | 5.90E-08 | 9.42E-08 | -8.89E-09 |
| 14 | 1.23E-07 | 1.91E-07 | 1.40E-07 | 7.28E-08 | 1.03E-07 | -1.03E-08 |
| 15 | 1.42E-07 | 2.09E-07 | 1.60E-07 | 8.80E-08 | 1.12E-07 | -1.18E-08 |
| 16 | 1.62E-07 | 2.27E-07 | 1.81E-07 | 1.04E-07 | 1.21E-07 | -1.34E-08 |
| 17 | 1.83E-07 | 2.46E-07 | 2.03E-07 | 1.21E-07 | 1.29E-07 | -1.51E-08 |
| 18 | 2.04E-07 | 2.64E-07 | 2.26E-07 | 1.38E-07 | 1.36E-07 | -1.68E-08 |
| 19 | 2.26E-07 | 2.81E-07 | 2.48E-07 | 1.55E-07 | 1.43E-07 | -1.86E-08 |
| 20 | 2.48E-07 | 2.98E-07 | 2.71E-07 | 1.73E-07 | 1.49E-07 | -2.04E-08 |

Table 2: Relative accuracy of the Mellin transforms comparing the approximative representations valid for complex arguments and the representation in terms of harmonic sums for $`Nϵ[2,20]`$

| $`N`$ | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | -9.79E-10 | -2.70E-10 | -9.02E-10 | -7.02E-10 | 9.31E-10 | -6.00E-10 |
| 3 | -2.08E-09 | -3.63E-10 | -1.14E-09 | -9.13E-10 | 1.18E-09 | -1.13E-09 |
| 4 | -3.56E-09 | -4.59E-10 | -1.40E-09 | -1.14E-09 | 1.44E-09 | -1.80E-09 |
| 5 | -5.45E-09 | -5.60E-10 | -1.68E-09 | -1.34E-09 | 1.72E-09 | -2.60E-09 |
| 6 | -7.80E-09 | -6.65E-10 | -1.96E-09 | -1.64E-09 | 2.01E-09 | -3.54E-09 |
| 7 | -1.06E-08 | -7.75E-10 | -2.27E-09 | -1.92E-09 | 2.32E-09 | -4.60E-09 |
| 8 | -1.40E-08 | -8.93E-10 | -2.60E-09 | -2.23E-09 | 2.65E-09 | -5.80E-09 |
| 9 | -1.81E-08 | -1.02E-09 | -2.95E-09 | -2.57E-09 | 3.00E-09 | -7.14E-09 |
| 10 | -2.28E-08 | -1.15E-09 | -3.32E-09 | -2.92E-09 | 3.39E-09 | -8.60E-09 |
| 11 | -2.82E-08 | -1.30E-09 | -3.69E-09 | -3.29E-09 | 3.79E-09 | -1.02E-08 |
| 12 | -3.43E-08 | -1.45E-09 | -4.06E-09 | -3.68E-09 | 4.22E-09 | -1.19E-08 |
| 13 | -4.11E-08 | -1.62E-09 | -4.43E-09 | -4.06E-09 | 4.66E-09 | -1.38E-08 |
| 14 | -4.86E-08 | -1.78E-09 | -4.79E-09 | -4.44E-09 | 5.11E-09 | -1.58E-08 |
| 15 | -5.68E-08 | -1.96E-09 | -5.14E-09 | -4.80E-09 | 5.56E-09 | -1.80E-08 |
| 16 | -6.55E-08 | -2.14E-09 | -5.47E-09 | -5.16E-09 | 6.02E-09 | -2.04E-08 |
| 17 | -7.49E-08 | -2.31E-09 | -5.77E-09 | -5.49E-09 | 6.47E-09 | -2.29E-08 |
| 18 | -8.47E-08 | -2.49E-09 | -6.06E-09 | -5.80E-09 | 6.91E-09 | -2.56E-08 |
| 19 | -9.49E-08 | -2.66E-09 | -6.32E-09 | -6.09E-09 | 7.34E-09 | -2.85E-08 |
| 20 | -1.06E-07 | -2.83E-09 | -6.55E-09 | -6.36E-09 | 7.75E-09 | -3.15E-08 |

| $`N`$ | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2 | -0.248E-08 | 0.108E-08 | 0.646E-09 | -0.131E-09 | 0.431E-08 | -0.408E-08 | 0.353E-08 | -0.489E-08 |
| 3 | -0.303E-08 | 0.212E-08 | 0.114E-08 | -0.166E-09 | 0.686E-08 | -0.500E-08 | 0.461E-08 | -0.795E-08 |
| 4 | -0.353E-08 | 0.351E-08 | 0.174E-08 | -0.200E-09 | 0.963E-08 | -0.586E-08 | 0.568E-08 | -0.115E-07 |
| 5 | -0.397E-08 | 0.525E-08 | 0.243E-08 | -0.235E-09 | 0.126E-07 | -0.668E-08 | 0.674E-08 | -0.154E-07 |
| 6 | -0.435E-08 | 0.733E-08 | 0.321E-08 | -0.270E-09 | 0.157E-07 | -0.746E-08 | 0.779E-08 | -0.198E-07 |
| 7 | -0.470E-08 | 0.976E-08 | 0.409E-08 | -0.305E-09 | 0.189E-07 | -0.821E-08 | 0.882E-08 | -0.248E-07 |
| 8 | -0.499E-08 | 0.126E-07 | 0.506E-08 | -0.341E-09 | 0.223E-07 | -0.893E-08 | 0.985E-08 | -0.303E-07 |
| 9 | -0.525E-08 | 0.157E-07 | -0.377E-09 | 0.612E-08 | 0.257E-07 | -0.963E-08 | 0.109E-07 | -0.365E-07 |
| 10 | -0.546E-08 | 0.192E-07 | 0.728E-08 | -0.413E-09 | 0.293E-07 | -0.103E-07 | 0.118E-07 | -0.432E-07 |
| 11 | -0.562E-08 | 0.231E-07 | 0.855E-08 | -0.449E-09 | 0.329E-07 | -0.110E-07 | 0.128E-07 | -0.506E-07 |
| 12 | -0.575E-08 | 0.274E-07 | 0.993E-08 | -0.486E-09 | 0.366E-07 | -0.116E-07 | 0.138E-07 | -0.587E-07 |
| 13 | -0.584E-08 | 0.321E-07 | 0.114E-07 | -0.523E-09 | 0.404E-07 | -0.123E-07 | 0.147E-07 | -0.675E-07 |
| 14 | -0.590E-08 | 0.371E-07 | 0.131E-07 | -0.561E-09 | 0.442E-07 | -0.129E-07 | 0.157E-07 | -0.770E-07 |
| 15 | -0.592E-08 | 0.426E-07 | 0.148E-07 | -0.600E-09 | 0.481E-07 | -0.135E-07 | 0.166E-07 | -0.872E-07 |
| 16 | -0.592E-08 | 0.485E-07 | 0.166E-07 | -0.641E-09 | 0.520E-07 | -0.141E-07 | 0.175E-07 | -0.981E-07 |
| 17 | -0.589E-08 | 0.549E-07 | 0.186E-07 | -0.683E-09 | 0.560E-07 | -0.147E-07 | 0.184E-07 | -0.110E-06 |
| 18 | -0.583E-08 | 0.617E-07 | 0.207E-07 | -0.729E-09 | 0.601E-07 | -0.153E-07 | 0.192E-07 | -0.122E-06 |
| 19 | -0.576E-08 | 0.690E-07 | 0.229E-07 | -0.776E-09 | 0.642E-07 | -0.159E-07 | 0.201E-07 | -0.135E-06 |
| 20 | -0.566E-08 | 0.769E-07 | 0.251E-07 | -0.827E-09 | 0.683E-07 | -0.165E-07 | 0.210E-07 | -0.149E-06 |

Table 2 : continued

For ITEST3= 1 the Mellin inversion for the basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ based on the representations of the Mellin transforms for complex argument are compared to the numerical expressions for the functions $`g_i(x)`$ in the range $`xϵ[10^7,0.99]`$. The value of $`g_i`$ as a function of $`x`$ is calculated. The relative accuracy comparing both calculations RAT = VAL1/VAL2 -1 is given. The inverse Mellin transform to $`x`$-space is performed by a contour integral numerically. The singularities of the Mellin transforms for $`\mathrm{N}ϵ𝐂`$ are situated at the non–positive integers for the coefficient and splitting functions in massless fixed–order perturbation theory. <sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2Some all order resummations, as e.g. the small–$`x`$ resummation, lead also to singularities outside the real axis, cf. . The non–perturbative input densities are usually expressed in terms of polynomials of the type

$`h(x)={\displaystyle \underset{i}{}}A_ix^{\alpha _i}(1x)^{\beta _i},`$ (172)
the Mellin transform of which is a sum of Euler Beta–functions. Their singularities are as well situated on the real axis left of an upper bound. The inverse Mellin transform is given by

$`h(x)={\displaystyle _0^{\mathrm{}}}𝑑z\mathrm{𝖨𝗆}\left[e^{i\mathrm{\Phi }}x^{c(z)}f[c(z)]\right]`$ (173)
where $`c(z)=c_0+ze^{i\mathrm{\Phi }}`$, cf. also . The parameter integral over $`z`$ can be performed by standard algorithms. The code segments the integration path logarithmically into N=20 or N=50 pieces on each of which the integral is calculated by the 8-point or 32-point Gauss formula. The starting point C is varied according to the rightmost singularity of the function to be inverted and is chosen close to it on the right. The angle of the linear path w.r.t. the real axis is chosen by $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(3/4)\pi `$ for $`x<0.8`$, $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(7/8)\pi `$ for $`x>0.8`$. and $`\mathrm{\Phi }=(19/20)\pi `$ for $`x>0.98`$.

As an example the relative accuracy of the representation for the function $`g_{16}=\left[\mathrm{log}(1+x)\mathrm{log}(2)\right]/(x1)\text{Li}_2(x)`$ between $`x=10^7`$ and $`x=0.99`$ is

```
******************************************************
X,RAT16,VAL=  .10000D-06    -.44220D-08    -.69315D-07
X,RAT16,VAL=  .10000D-05    -.10120D-07    -.69315D-06
X,RAT16,VAL=  .10000D-04    -.13908D-07    -.69314D-05
X,RAT16,VAL=  .10000D-03    -.16350D-07    -.69310D-04
X,RAT16,VAL=  .10000D-02    -.15094D-07    -.69267D-03
X,RAT16,VAL=  .10000D-01     .61713D-08    -.68838D-02
X,RAT16,VAL=  .50000D-01     .94884D-08    -.33499D-01
X,RAT16,VAL=  .10000D+00    -.19742D-07    -.64836D-01
X,RAT16,VAL=  .15000D+00    -.92017D-08    -.94219D-01
X,RAT16,VAL=  .20000D+00     .14400D-07    -.12183D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .25000D+00     .20299D-07    -.14783D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .30000D+00     .50955D-08    -.17236D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .35000D+00    -.15289D-07    -.19554D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .40000D+00    -.23563D-07    -.21747D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .45000D+00    -.13795D-07    -.23827D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .50000D+00     .61787D-08    -.25800D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .55000D+00     .21289D-07    -.27676D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .60000D+00     .19772D-07    -.29461D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .65000D+00     .16678D-08    -.31161D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .70000D+00    -.19671D-07    -.32783D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .75000D+00     .22255D-05    -.34332D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .80000D+00     .22936D-05    -.35811D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .85000D+00     .30694D-05    -.37226D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .90000D+00     .38631D-05    -.38581D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .95000D+00    -.25871D-02    -.39879D+00
X,RAT16,VAL=  .99000D+00    -.20484D-01    -.40879D+00
******************************************************

```

Similar accuracies are obtained also in the other cases. We would like to mention that for $`i=3`$ and IAPP=2,3, respectively the accuracy is lower by three orders of magnitude up to $`x0.6`$ relative to the results for IAPP=1 and remains less above.

The central functions of the code are : FCT$`i`$(N), XCG$`i`$, ACG$`i`$ and FKN$`i`$. The REAL\*8 FUNCTIONS FCT$`i`$(N), i=1..26 provide the positive integer moments of the basic functions $`g_i(x)`$, N $``$ 1 obtained by numerical integration using the program DAIND . The integrands are defined in the REAL\*8 FUNCTIONS FKT$`i`$(N), i=1..26.

A second representation of the positive integer moments of the basic functions is given using the finite harmonic sums in the REAL\*8 FUNCTIONS XCG$`i`$(N), i=1..26.

The analytic continuations of the Mellin transforms are given in the COMPLEX\*16 FUNCTIONS ACG$`i`$(N), i=1..26.

The basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ are given by REAL\*8 FUNCTION FKN$`i`$(X), i=1..26.

One may use the above options without performing the aforementioned comparisons. The corresponding pilot parameter is IRUN, which takes values between 0 and 5.

IRUN = 0: implies a test run.

IRUN = 1: The Mellin moments of the basic functions are calculated by numerical integration for positive Mellin indices.

IRUN = 2: The Mellin moments of the basic functions are calculated by their representation in terms of harmonic sums for positive Mellin indices.

IRUN = 3: The Mellin moments of the basic functions are calculated by their representation in terms of the analytic continuations ACG$`i`$ for complex argument at positive integer moments.

IRUN = 4: The basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ are calculated for $`xϵ[10^7,0.99]`$ using numerical representations for the corresponding functions including the Nielsen integrals.

IRUN = 5: The basic functions $`g_i(x)`$ are calculated for $`xϵ[10^7,0.99]`$ using the Mellin moment inversion by a complex contour integral.

### 6.5 Subsidiary Routines

A series of subsidiary routines representing mathematical functions and procedures are contained in the code.

#### 6.5.1 $`\psi ^{(𝐤)}(𝐳)`$

SUBROUTINE PSI$`k`$(ZZ,RES), k = 0..3

provides the value of the functions RES = $`\psi ^{(k)}(`$ZZ$`)`$. Both ZZ and RES are COMPLEX\*16.

#### 6.5.2 $`\beta ^{(𝐤)}(𝐳)`$

SUBROUTINE BET$`k`$(ZZ,RES), k = 0..3

provides the value of the functions RES = $`\beta ^{(k)}(`$ZZ$`)`$, cf. Eq. (7). Both ZZ and RES are COMPLEX\*16.

#### 6.5.3 $`𝚪(𝐳)`$

SUBROUTINE GAMMA(Z,RES)

is the Euler Gamma function RES = $`\mathrm{\Gamma }(`$Z$`)`$ for complex argument, with

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }(z+1)=z\mathrm{\Gamma }(z).$$
(174)
Z and RES are COMPLEX\*16. For $`|z|>10,|\mathrm{arg}|(z)<\pi `$ the function is represented by

$`\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{\Gamma }(z)]`$ $``$ $`z\left[\mathrm{log}(z)1\right]+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}\mathrm{log}(2\pi /z)`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{12}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{360}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z^3}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1260}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z^5}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{1680}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z^7}}{\displaystyle \frac{691}{360360}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z^{11}}}+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{156}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z^{13}}}{\displaystyle \frac{3617}{122400}}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{z^{15}}}.`$
The SUBROUTINE GAMMAL(Z,RES) delivers RES = $`\mathrm{log}[\mathrm{\Gamma }(`$Z$`)]`$.

#### 6.5.4 $`𝐁(𝐚,𝐛)`$

SUBROUTINE BETA(A,B,RES)

is the Euler Beta function RES = $`B(`$A,B$`)`$ for complex argument, with

$`B(a,b)={\displaystyle \frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }(a)\mathrm{\Gamma }(b)}{\mathrm{\Gamma }(a+b)}}.`$ (176)
A,B and RES are COMPLEX\*16. This function may be used to represent the Mellin transforms of the partonic input densities for complex argument.

#### 6.5.5 Harmonic Sums

The code contains routines for the (alternating) harmonic sums up to depth 5 as REAL\*8 FUNCTIONS:

DOUBLE PRECISION FUNCTION SUM1(I1,N)

$`\mathrm{}`$

DOUBLE PRECISION FUNCTION SUM5(I1,I2,I3,I4,I5,N)

The input parameters I$`i`$ may be either positive (non–alternating summation) or negative (alternating summation) integers.

Example :  $`S_{1,1,3}(N)`$ is calculated by SUM3(1,-1,3,N).

#### 6.5.6 Polylogarithms

The REAL\*8 FUNCTIONS

DOUBLE PRECISION FUNCTION FLI$`i`$(x), i=2,3,4

calculate the polylogarithms $`\text{Li}_k(x),k=2,3,4`$ for $`xϵ[1,1]`$.

#### 6.5.7 Nielsen Integral $`𝐒_{\mathrm{𝟏𝟐}}(𝐱)`$

The Nielsen integral $`S_{1,2}(x)`$, cf. Eq. (4), is calculated by

DOUBLE PRECISION FUNCTION S12$`(x)`$.

#### 6.5.8 $`𝐈_\mathrm{𝟏}(𝐱)`$

The function $`I_1(x)`$, Eq. (25) is provided by

DOUBLE PRECISION FUNCTION YI1$`(x)`$.

#### 6.5.9 Numerical Integration

REAL\*8 FUNCTION DAIND(A,B,FUN,EPS,KEY,MAX,KOU,EST)

The function DAIND yields the integral over the function FUN(x) from A to B. The integrand has to be declared as EXTERNAL in the calling routine. The corresponding algorithm was published in Ref. . We recommend to use the integrator setting KEY = 2. Here EPS denotes the demanded relative accuracy of the integral and MAX $``$ 10000 the number of points at which FUN(x) is calculated by this adaptive integration. The output parameters KOU and EST refer to the number of points being used and the estimated accuracy reached.

## 7 Summary

We have calculated semi-analytic representations for the analytic continuations of the Mellin transforms of the set of basic functions through which the Wilson coefficients and splitting functions which occur in hard scattering processes in massless field theories as QED and QCD can be expressed up to two–loop order. Here we aimed on high–precision representations which were performed using widely the algebraic and analytic relations of the Nielsen integrals and related functions being considered as well as their Mellin transforms limiting the necessary approximative representations to as few cases as possible. The expressions obtained are compared both to the Mellin moments at positive integer Mellin index with the values obtained by numerical integration and the representations in terms of harmonic sums. The Mellin inversion to $`x`$ space provides a further test on the numerical accuracy of the expressions derived for the analytic continuations of the Mellin transforms for complex values. The FORTRAN–code ANCONT is provided. With the help of these representations the Mellin transforms for all two–loop quantities for the different space– and time–like hard scattering processes in the massless limit can be assembled.

A̱cknowledgement. This work was supported in part by EU contract FMRX-CT98-0194 (DG 12 - MIHT).