Recent Symbolic Summation Methods to Solve Coupled Systems of Differential and Difference Equations

Abstract: We outline a new algorithm to solve coupled systems of differential equations in one continuous variable $x$ (resp. coupled difference equations in one discrete variable $N$) depending on a small parameter $\epsilon$: given such a system and given sufficiently many initial values, we can determine the first coefficients of the Laurent-series solutions in $\epsilon$ if they are expressible in terms of indefinite nested sums and products. This systematic approach is based on symbolic summation algorithms in the context of difference rings/fields and uncoupling algorithms. The proposed method gives rise to new interesting applications in connection with integration by parts (IBP) methods. As an illustrative example, we will demonstrate how one can calculate the $\epsilon$-expansion of a ladder graph with 6 massive fermion lines.