1,719 research outputs found
The Momentum Amplituhedron
In this paper we define a new object, the momentum amplituhedron, which is the long sought-after positive geometry for tree-level scattering amplitudes in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory in spinor helicity space. Inspired by the construction of the ordinary amplituhedron, we introduce bosonized spinor helicity variables to represent our external kinematical data, and restrict them to a particular positive region. The momentum amplituhedron M n,k is then the image of the positive Grassmannian via a map determined by such kinematics. The scattering amplitudes are extracted from the canonical form with logarithmic singularities on the boundaries of this geometry.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
On All-loop Integrands of Scattering Amplitudes in Planar N=4 SYM
We study the relationship between the momentum twistor MHV vertex expansion
of planar amplitudes in N=4 super-Yang-Mills and the all-loop generalization of
the BCFW recursion relations. We demonstrate explicitly in several examples
that the MHV vertex expressions for tree-level amplitudes and loop integrands
satisfy the recursion relations. Furthermore, we introduce a rewriting of the
MHV expansion in terms of sums over non-crossing partitions and show that this
cyclically invariant formula satisfies the recursion relations for all numbers
of legs and all loop orders.Comment: 34 pages, 17 figures; v2: Minor improvements to exposition and
discussion, updated references, typos fixe
Unification of Residues and Grassmannian Dualities
The conjectured duality relating all-loop leading singularities of n-particle
N^(k-2)MHV scattering amplitudes in N=4 SYM to a simple contour integral over
the Grassmannian G(k,n) makes all the symmetries of the theory manifest. Every
residue is individually Yangian invariant, but does not have a local space-time
interpretation--only a special sum over residues gives physical amplitudes. In
this paper we show that the sum over residues giving tree amplitudes can be
unified into a single algebraic variety, which we explicitly construct for all
NMHV and N^2MHV amplitudes. Remarkably, this allows the contour integral to
have a "particle interpretation" in the Grassmannian, where higher-point
amplitudes can be constructed from lower-point ones by adding one particle at a
time, with soft limits manifest. We move on to show that the connected
prescription for tree amplitudes in Witten's twistor string theory also admits
a Grassmannian particle interpretation, where the integral over the
Grassmannian localizes over the Veronese map from G(2,n) to G(k,n). These
apparently very different theories are related by a natural deformation with a
parameter t that smoothly interpolates between them. For NMHV amplitudes, we
use a simple residue theorem to prove t-independence of the result, thus
establishing a novel kind of duality between these theories.Comment: 56 pages, 11 figures; v2: typos corrected, minor improvement
New differential equations for on-shell loop integrals
We present a novel type of differential equations for on-shell loop
integrals. The equations are second-order and importantly, they reduce the loop
level by one, so that they can be solved iteratively in the loop order. We
present several infinite series of integrals satisfying such iterative
differential equations. The differential operators we use are best written
using momentum twistor space. The use of the latter was advocated in recent
papers discussing loop integrals in N=4 super Yang-Mills. One of our
motivations is to provide a tool for deriving analytical results for scattering
amplitudes in this theory. We show that the integrals needed for planar MHV
amplitudes up to two loops can be thought of as deriving from a single master
topology. The master integral satisfies our differential equations, and so do
most of the reduced integrals. A consequence of the differential equations is
that the integrals we discuss are not arbitrarily complicated transcendental
functions. For two specific two-loop integrals we give the full analytic
solution. The simplicity of the integrals appearing in the scattering
amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills is strongly suggestive of a relation
to the conjectured underlying integrability of the theory. We expect these
differential equations to be relevant for all planar MHV and non-MHV
amplitudes. We also discuss possible extensions of our method to more general
classes of integrals.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figures; v2: typos corrected, definition of harmonic
polylogarithms adde
Local Spacetime Physics from the Grassmannian
A duality has recently been conjectured between all leading singularities of
n-particle N^(k-2)MHV scattering amplitudes in N=4 SYM and the residues of a
contour integral with a natural measure over the Grassmannian G(k,n). In this
note we show that a simple contour deformation converts the sum of Grassmannian
residues associated with the BCFW expansion of NMHV tree amplitudes to the CSW
expansion of the same amplitude. We propose that for general k the same
deformation yields the (k-2) parameter Risager expansion. We establish this
equivalence for all MHV-bar amplitudes and show that the Risager degrees of
freedom are non-trivially determined by the GL(k-2) "gauge" degrees of freedom
in the Grassmannian. The Risager expansion is known to recursively construct
the CSW expansion for all tree amplitudes, and given that the CSW expansion
follows directly from the (super) Yang-Mills Lagrangian in light-cone gauge,
this contour deformation allows us to directly see the emergence of local
space-time physics from the Grassmannian.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures; v2: minor updates, typos correcte
The Kinematic Algebra From the Self-Dual Sector
We identify a diffeomorphism Lie algebra in the self-dual sector of
Yang-Mills theory, and show that it determines the kinematic numerators of
tree-level MHV amplitudes in the full theory. These amplitudes can be computed
off-shell from Feynman diagrams with only cubic vertices, which are dressed
with the structure constants of both the Yang-Mills colour algebra and the
diffeomorphism algebra. Therefore, the latter algebra is the dual of the colour
algebra, in the sense suggested by the work of Bern, Carrasco and Johansson. We
further study perturbative gravity, both in the self-dual and in the MHV
sectors, finding that the kinematic numerators of the theory are the BCJ
squares of the Yang-Mills numerators.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. v2: references added, published versio
Multi-Regge kinematics and the moduli space of Riemann spheres with marked points
We show that scattering amplitudes in planar N = 4 Super Yang-Mills in
multi-Regge kinematics can naturally be expressed in terms of single-valued
iterated integrals on the moduli space of Riemann spheres with marked points.
As a consequence, scattering amplitudes in this limit can be expressed as
convolutions that can easily be computed using Stokes' theorem. We apply this
framework to MHV amplitudes to leading-logarithmic accuracy (LLA), and we prove
that at L loops all MHV amplitudes are determined by amplitudes with up to L +
4 external legs. We also investigate non-MHV amplitudes, and we show that they
can be obtained by convoluting the MHV results with a certain helicity flip
kernel. We classify all leading singularities that appear at LLA in the Regge
limit for arbitrary helicity configurations and any number of external legs.
Finally, we use our new framework to obtain explicit analytic results at LLA
for all MHV amplitudes up to five loops and all non-MHV amplitudes with up to
eight external legs and four loops.Comment: 104 pages, six awesome figures and ancillary files containing the
results in Mathematica forma
Wilson Loops @ 3-Loops in Special Kinematics
We obtain a compact expression for the octagon MHV amplitude / Wilson loop at
3 loops in planar N=4 SYM and in special 2d kinematics in terms of 7 unfixed
coefficients. We do this by making use of the cyclic and parity symmetry of the
amplitude/Wilson loop and its behaviour in the soft/collinear limits as well as
in the leading term in the expansion away from this limit. We also make a
natural and quite general assumption about the functional form of the result,
namely that it should consist of weight 6 polylogarithms whose symbol consists
of basic cross-ratios only (and not functions thereof). We also describe the
uplift of this result to 10 points.Comment: 26 pages. Typos correcte
Differential equations for multi-loop integrals and two-dimensional kinematics
In this paper we consider multi-loop integrals appearing in MHV scattering
amplitudes of planar N=4 SYM. Through particular differential operators which
reduce the loop order by one, we present explicit equations for the two-loop
eight-point finite diagrams which relate them to massive hexagons. After the
reduction to two-dimensional kinematics, we solve them using symbol technology.
The terms invisible to the symbols are found through boundary conditions coming
from double soft limits. These equations are valid at all-loop order for double
pentaladders and allow to solve iteratively loop integrals given lower-loop
information. Comments are made about multi-leg and multi-loop integrals which
can appear in this special kinematics. The main motivation of this
investigation is to get a deeper understanding of these tools in this
configuration, as well as for their application in general four-dimensional
kinematics and to less supersymmetric theories.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure
The Grassmannian and the Twistor String: Connecting All Trees in N=4 SYM
We present a new, explicit formula for all tree-level amplitudes in N=4 super
Yang-Mills. The formula is written as a certain contour integral of the
connected prescription of Witten's twistor string, expressed in link variables.
A very simple deformation of the integrand gives directly the Grassmannian
integrand proposed by Arkani-Hamed et al. together with the explicit contour of
integration. The integral is derived by iteratively adding particles to the
Grassmannian integral, one particle at a time, and makes manifest both parity
and soft limits. The formula is shown to be related to those given by Dolan and
Goddard, and generalizes the results of earlier work for NMHV and N^2MHV to all
N^(k-2)MHV tree amplitudes in N=4 super Yang-Mills.Comment: 26 page
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