Scattering Amplitude Recursion Relations in BV Quantisable Theories

Tree-level scattering amplitudes in Yang-Mills theory satisfy a recursion relation due to Berends and Giele which yields e.g. the famous Parke-Taylor formula for MHV amplitudes. We show that the origin of this recursion relation becomes clear in the BV formalism, which encodes a field theory in an $L_\infty$-algebra. The recursion relation is obtained in the transition to a smallest representative in the quasi-isomorphism class of that $L_\infty$-algebra, known as a minimal model. In fact, the quasi-isomorphism contains all the information about the scattering theory. As we explain, the computation of such a minimal model is readily performed in any BV quantisable theory, which, in turn, produces recursion relations for its tree-level scattering amplitudes.Comment: 33 pages, minor improvements, typos corrected, references added, published versio

Direct Proof Of Tree-Level Recursion Relation In Yang-Mills Theory

Recently, by using the known structure of one-loop scattering amplitudes for gluons in Yang-Mills theory, a recursion relation for tree-level scattering amplitudes has been deduced. Here, we give a short and direct proof of this recursion relation based on properties of tree-level amplitudes only.Comment: 10 pp. Added section 4: Proof of MHV Recursion Relation

A Two-Parameter Recursion Formula For Scalar Field Theory

We present a two-parameter family of recursion formulas for scalar field theory. The first parameter is the dimension $(D)$. The second parameter ($\zeta$) allows one to continuously extrapolate between Wilson's approximate recursion formula and the recursion formula of Dyson's hierarchical model. We show numerically that at fixed $D$, the critical exponent $\gamma$ depends continuously on $\zeta$. We suggest the use of the $\zeta -$independence as a guide to construct improved recursion formulas.Comment: 7 pages, uses Revtex, one Postcript figur

Nijenhuis operator in contact homology and descendant recursion in symplectic field theory

In this paper we investigate the algebraic structure related to a new type of correlator associated to the moduli spaces of $S^1$-parametrized curves in contact homology and rational symplectic field theory. Such correlators are the natural generalization of the non-equivariant linearized contact homology differential (after Bourgeois-Oancea) and give rise to an invariant Nijenhuis (or hereditary) operator (\`a la Magri-Fuchssteiner) in contact homology which recovers the descendant theory from the primaries. We also sketch how such structure generalizes to the full SFT Poisson homology algebra to a (graded symmetric) bivector. The descendant hamiltonians satisfy to recursion relations, analogous to bihamiltonian recursion, with respect to the pair formed by the natural Poisson structure in SFT and such bivector. In case the target manifold is the product stable Hamiltonian structure $S^1\times M$, with $M$ a symplectic manifold, the recursion coincides with genus $0$ topological recursion relations in the Gromov-Witten theory of $M$.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figure

Tree amplitudes of noncommutative U(N) Yang-Mills Theory

Following the spirit of S-matrix program, we proposed a modified Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten recursion relation for tree amplitudes of noncommutative U(N) Yang-Mills theory. Starting from three-point amplitudes, one can use this modified BCFW recursion relation to compute or analyze color-ordered tree amplitudes without relying on any detail information of noncommutative Yang-Mills theory. After clarifying the color structure of noncommutative tree amplitudes, we wrote down the noncommutative analogies of U(1)-decoupling, Kleiss-Kuijf and Bern-Carrasco-Johansson relations for color-ordered tree amplitudes, and proved them using the modified BCFW recursion relation.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures. v2 References added. v3 some typos correcte

Simple Recursion Relations for General Field Theories

On-shell methods offer an alternative definition of quantum field theory at tree-level, replacing Feynman diagrams with recursion relations and interaction vertices with a handful of seed scattering amplitudes. In this paper we determine the simplest recursion relations needed to construct a general four-dimensional quantum field theory of massless particles. For this purpose we define a covering space of recursion relations which naturally generalizes all existing constructions, including those of BCFW and Risager. The validity of each recursion relation hinges on the large momentum behavior of an n-point scattering amplitude under an m-line momentum shift, which we determine solely from dimensional analysis, Lorentz invariance, and locality. We show that all amplitudes in a renormalizable theory are 5-line constructible. Amplitudes are 3-line constructible if an external particle carries spin or if the scalars in the theory carry equal charge under a global or gauge symmetry. Remarkably, this implies the 3-line constructibility of all gauge theories with fermions and complex scalars in arbitrary representations, all supersymmetric theories, and the standard model. Moreover, all amplitudes in non-renormalizable theories without derivative interactions are constructible; with derivative interactions, a subset of amplitudes is constructible. We illustrate our results with examples from both renormalizable and non-renormalizable theories. Our study demonstrates both the power and limitations of recursion relations as a self-contained formulation of quantum field theory.Comment: 27 pages and 2 figures; v2: typos corrected to match journal versio