153 research outputs found
A Color Dual Form for Gauge-Theory Amplitudes
Recently a duality between color and kinematics has been proposed, exposing a
new unexpected structure in gauge theory and gravity scattering amplitudes.
Here we propose that the relation goes deeper, allowing us to reorganize
amplitudes into a form reminiscent of the standard color decomposition in terms
of traces over generators, but with the role of color and kinematics swapped.
By imposing additional conditions similar to Kleiss-Kuijf relations between
partial amplitudes, the relationship between the earlier form satisfying the
duality and the current one is invertible. We comment on extensions to loop
level.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Absence of Three-Loop Four-Point Divergences in N=4 Supergravity
We compute the coefficient of the potential three-loop divergence in pure N=4
supergravity and show that it vanishes, contrary to expectations from symmetry
arguments. The recently uncovered duality between color and kinematics is used
to greatly streamline the calculation. We comment on all-loop cancellations
hinting at further surprises awaiting discovery at higher loops.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; v2 added references and minor correction
Dual Conformal Properties of Six-Dimensional Maximal Super Yang-Mills Amplitudes
We demonstrate that the tree-level amplitudes of maximal super-Yang-Mills
theory in six dimensions, when stripped of their overall momentum and
supermomentum delta functions, are covariant with respect to the
six-dimensional dual conformal group. Using the generalized unitarity method,
we demonstrate that this property is also present for loop amplitudes. Since
the six-dimensional amplitudes can be interpreted as massive four-dimensional
ones, this implies that the six-dimensional symmetry is also present in the
massively regulated four-dimensional maximal super-Yang-Mills amplitudes.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, minor clarification, references update
A Twistor Description of Six-Dimensional N=(1,1) Super Yang-Mills Theory
We present a twistor space that describes super null-lines on six-dimensional
N=(1,1) superspace. We then show that there is a one-to-one correspondence
between holomorphic vector bundles over this twistor space and solutions to the
field equations of N=(1,1) super Yang-Mills theory. Our constructions naturally
reduce to those of the twistorial description of maximally supersymmetric
Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions.Comment: 15 pages, typos fixed, published versio
Simple superamplitudes in higher dimensions
We provide simple superspaces based on a formulation of spinor helicity in
general even dimensions. As a distinguishing feature these spaces admit a
fermionic super-momentum conserving delta function solution to the on-shell
supersymmetry Ward identities. Using these solutions, we present beautifully
simple formulae for the complete three, four and five point superamplitudes in
maximal super Yang-Mills theory in eight dimensions, and for the three and four
point superamplitudes in ten dimensional type IIB supergravity. In addition, we
discuss the exceptional kinematics of the three point amplitude, and the
supersymmetric spinorial BCFW recursion, in general dimensions.Comment: 34 page
Basics of Generalized Unitarity
We review generalized unitarity as a means for obtaining loop amplitudes from
on-shell tree amplitudes. The method is generally applicable to both
supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric amplitudes, including non-planar
contributions. Here we focus mainly on N=4 Yang-Mills theory, in the context of
on-shell superspaces. Given the need for regularization at loop level, we also
review a six-dimensional helicity-based superspace formalism and its
application to dimensional and massive regularizations. An important feature of
the unitarity method is that it offers a means for carrying over any identified
tree-level property of on-shell amplitudes to loop level, though sometimes in a
modified form. We illustrate this with examples of dual conformal symmetry and
a recently discovered duality between color and kinematics.Comment: 37 pages, 10 figures. Invited review for a special issue of Journal
of Physics A devoted to "Scattering Amplitudes in Gauge Theories", R.
Roiban(ed), M. Spradlin(ed), A. Volovich(ed
Dualities for Loop Amplitudes of N=6 Chern-Simons Matter Theory
In this paper we study the one- and two-loop corrections to the four-point
amplitude of N=6 Chern-Simons matter theory. Using generalized unitarity
methods we express the one- and two-loop amplitudes in terms of dual-conformal
integrals. Explicit integration by using dimensional reduction gives vanishing
one-loop result as expected, while the two-loop result is non-vanishing and
matches with the Wilson loop computation. Furthermore, the two-loop correction
takes the same form as the one-loop correction to the four-point amplitude of
N=4 super Yang-Mills. We discuss possible higher loop extensions of this
correspondence between the two theories. As a side result, we extend the method
of dimensional reduction for three dimensions to five dimensions where dual
conformal symmetry is most manifest, demonstrating significant simplification
to the computation of integrals.Comment: 32 pages and 6 figures. v2: minus sign corrections, ref updated v3:
Published versio
Spinor Helicity and Dual Conformal Symmetry in Ten Dimensions
The spinor helicity formalism in four dimensions has become a very useful
tool both for understanding the structure of amplitudes and also for practical
numerical computation of amplitudes. Recently, there has been some discussion
of an extension of this formalism to higher dimensions. We describe a
particular implementation of the spinor-helicity method in ten dimensions.
Using this tool, we study the tree-level S-matrix of ten dimensional super
Yang-Mills theory, and prove that the theory enjoys a dual conformal symmetry.
Implications for four-dimensional computations are discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 1 figure
The one-loop six-dimensional hexagon integral and its relation to MHV amplitudes in N=4 SYM
We provide an analytic formula for the (rescaled) one-loop scalar hexagon
integral with all external legs massless, in terms of classical
polylogarithms. We show that this integral is closely connected to two
integrals appearing in one- and two-loop amplitudes in planar
super-Yang-Mills theory, and . The derivative of
with respect to one of the conformal invariants yields
, while another first-order differential operator applied to
yields . We also introduce some kinematic
variables that rationalize the arguments of the polylogarithms, making it easy
to verify the latter differential equation. We also give a further example of a
six-dimensional integral relevant for amplitudes in
super-Yang-Mills.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure
Three particle superstring amplitudes with massive legs
On-shell superspaces and associated spinor helicity techniques give an
efficient formulation of the Ward identities of on-shell supersymmetry for
scattering amplitudes and supply tools to construct their solutions. Based on
these techniques in this paper the general solutions of the Ward identities are
presented for three particle scattering amplitudes with one, two or three
massive legs for simple supersymmetry in ten and eight dimensions. It is shown
in examples how these solutions may be used to obtain concrete amplitudes for
the closed (IIB) and open superstring in a flat background. Explicit results
include all three point amplitudes with one massive leg whose functional form
is shown to be dictated completely by super-Poincare symmetry. The resulting
surprisingly simple series only involves massive superfields labelled by
completely symmetric little group representations. The extension to more
general explicit three and higher point amplitudes in string theory is
initiated. In appendices the field content of the fundamental massive
superfields of the open and closed superstring are listed in terms of the
Dynkin labels of a variety of groups which may be of independent interest.Comment: 45 pages. v2: typos corrected, references adde
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