On Cancellations of Ultraviolet Divergences in Supergravity Amplitudes
N. E. J. Bjerrum-Bohr, Pierre Vanhove
备注：
Latex. 12 pages, 1 figure. Contribution to the proceedings of the 3rd meeting of the RTN `` Constituents, Fundamental Forces and Symmetries of the Universe'' in Valencia (Spain) and Quarks 2008 at Sergiev Posad (Russia). v2: minor corrections
Concrete calculations have pointed out that amplitudes in perturbative gravity exhibit unanticipated cancellations taming their ultraviolet behaviour independently of supersymmetry. Similar ultraviolet behaviour of N=4 super-Yang-Mills and N=8 maximal supergravity has explicitly been observed until three loops. These cancellations can be connected to two manifest features of gravitational theories: firstly gauge invariance from diffeomorphism symmetries and secondly that amplitudes are colourless and exhibits crossing symmetry. We will give a simple physical explanation of the cancellations exhibited in gravity amplitudes. We will discuss these two properties in turn as well as the role of supersymmetry and string theory dualities in the structure of multiloop amplitudes in supergravity.
We display the full anomaly structure of supergravity, including new D-term contributions to the conformal anomaly. This expression has the super-Weyl and chiral U(1)_K transformation properties that are required for implementation of the Green-Schwarz mechanism for anomaly cancellation. We outline the procedure for full anomaly cancellation. Our results have implications for effective supergravity theories from the weakly coupled heterotic string theory.
We show that a choice of Pauli-Villars regulators allows the cancellation of all conformal and chiral anomalies in an effective field theory from Z_3 compactification of the heterotic string with two Wilson lines and an anomalous U(1).
We show that the four-loop four-point amplitudes of N = 5 supergravity are ultraviolet finite in four dimensions, contrary to expectations based on supersymmetry and duality-symmetry arguments. We explain why the diagrams of any covariant local formalism cannot manifestly exhibit the necessary cancellations for finiteness but instead require a new type of nontrivial ultraviolet cancellation that we call "enhanced cancellations". We also show that the three-loop four-point amplitudes in N = 4 and N = 5 supergravity theories display enhanced cancellations. To construct the loop integrand, we use…
Using Schrödinger functional methods, we show that in the ${\cal N}=4$ SYM/Type IIB Supergravity correspondence the renormalisation of the boundary Newton and gravitational constants arising from bulk fields cancels when we sum over all the Kaluza-Klein modes of Supergravity. This accords with the expected finiteness of ${\cal N}=4$ SYM, and it is expected that other renormalisations cancel in a similar way.
We show that the double-copy structure of gravity forbids divergences in pure half-maximal (16 supercharge) supergravity at four and five points at one loop in D<8 and at two loops in D<6. We link the cancellations that render these supergravity amplitudes finite to corresponding ones that eliminate forbidden color factors from the divergences of pure nonsupersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The vanishing of the two-loop four-point divergence in D=5 half-maximal supergravity is an example where a valid counterterm satisfying the known symmetries exists, yet is not present. We also give explicit fo…
We review and clarify the cancellation conditions for gauge anomalies which occur when N=1, D=4 supergravity is coupled to a Kahler non-linear sigma-model with gauged isometries and Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings. For a flat sigma-model target space and vanishing Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings, consistency requires just the conventional anomaly cancellation conditions. A consistent model with non-vanishing Fayet-Iliopoulos couplings is unlikely unless the Green-Schwarz mechanism is used. In this case the U(1) gauge boson becomes massive and the D-term potential receives corrections. A Green-Schwarz me…
Examples of "enhanced ultraviolet cancellations" with no known standard-symmetry explanation have been found in a variety of supergravity theories. By examining one- and two-loop examples in four- and five-dimensional half-maximal supergravity, we argue that enhanced cancellations in general cannot be exhibited prior to integration. In light of this, we explore reorganizations of integrands into parts that are manifestly finite and parts that have poor power counting but integrate to zero due to integral identities. At two loops we find that in the large loop-momentum limit the required integr…
We demonstrate that pure N=4 supergravity is ultraviolet divergent at four loops. The form of the divergence suggests that it is due to the rigid U(1) duality-symmetry anomaly of the theory. This is the first known example of an ultraviolet divergence in a pure ungauged supergravity theory in four dimensions. We use the duality between color and kinematics to construct the integrand of the four-loop four-point amplitude, whose ultraviolet divergence is then extracted by standard integration techniques.
We argue that recent results in string perturbation theory indicate that the four-graviton amplitude of four-dimensional N=8 supergravity might be ultraviolet finite up to eight loops. We similarly argue that the h-loop M-graviton amplitude might be finite for h<7+M/2.
In this contribution we describe computational tools that permit the evaluation of multi-loop scattering amplitudes in N=8 supergravity, in terms of amplitudes in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. We also discuss the remarkable ultraviolet behavior of N=8 supergravity, which follows from these amplitudes, and is as good as that of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory through at least four loops.
We analyze the critical ultraviolet behaviour of the four-graviton amplitude in N=8 supergravity to all order in perturbation. We use the Bern-Carrasco-Johansson diagrammatic expansion for N=8 supergravity multiloop amplitudes, where numerator factors are squares of the Lorentz factor of N=4 super-Yang-Mills amplitudes, and the analysis of the critical ultraviolet behaviour of the multiloop four-gluon amplitudes in the single- and double-trace sectors. We argue this implies that the superficial ultraviolet behaviour of the four-graviton N=8 amplitudes from four-loop order is determined by the …
The ultraviolet divergences of amplitude diagrams in maximal supergravity are characterised by a first possible divergence at seven loops for the 4-point amplitude (logarithmic) and, in its absence, at eight loops. We revisit the pure spinor superfield theory results of [arXiv:1412.5983], stating the absence of the divergence originating in the 4-point 7-loop amplitude as well as those of more than seven loops. The analysis, performed in terms of the one-particle irreducible loop structures giving rise to the divergences, is extended, especially with respect to the limits on the dimension for …
We use the recently developed generalized double-copy construction to obtain an improved representation of the five-loop four-point integrand of $N = 8$ supergravity whose leading ultraviolet behavior we analyze using state of the art loop-integral expansion and reduction methods. We find that the five-loop critical dimension where ultraviolet divergences first occur is $D_c=24/5$, corresponding to a $D^8 R^4$ counterterm. This ultraviolet behavior stands in contrast to the cases of four-dimensional $N = 4$ supergravity at three loops and $N = 5$ supergravity at four loops whose improved ultra…
We describe the construction of the complete four-loop four-particle amplitude of N=8 supergravity. The amplitude is ultraviolet finite, not only in four dimensions, but in five dimensions as well. The observed extra cancellations provide additional non-trivial evidence that N=8 supergravity in four dimensions may be ultraviolet finite to all orders of perturbation theory.
We use Pauli-Villars regularization to evaluate the conformal and chiral anomalies in the effective field theories from Z3 and Z7 compactifications of the heterotic string without Wilson lines. We show that parameters for Pauli-Villars chiral multiplets can be chosen in such a way that the anomaly is universal in the sense that its coefficient depends only on a single holomorphic function of the three diagonal moduli. It is therefore possible to cancel the anomaly by a generalization of the four-dimensional Green-Schwarz mechanism. In particular we are able to reproduce the results of a string…
The ultraviolet divergences of amplitude diagrams in maximal supergravity are investigated using the pure spinor superfield formalism in maximal supergravity, with maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory for reference. We comment on the effects of the loop regularisation in relation to the actual absence of high powers (within the degrees of freedom) of the non-minimal variable r. The absence affects previous results of the field theory description, which is examined more closely (with a new b-ghost) with respect to the limit on the dimension for finiteness of the theory, dependent on the n…
We determine the minimum dimension at which divergences first occur in half-maximal 16-supercharge supergravity at three loops. For the four-point amplitudes, we find that the critical dimension is D=14/3 and give the explicit form of the divergence. We also give the divergence of an additional piece that gives us access to theories with higher degrees of supersymmetry, in particular 20- and 32-supercharge supergravities. We give the divergences of half-maximal supergravity when matter vector multiplets are included as well. Explicit forms of various divergences at one and two loops are also g…
Recent computations of scattering amplitudes show that N=8 supergravity is surprisingly well behaved in the ultraviolet and may even be ultraviolet finite in perturbation theory. The novel cancellations necessary for ultraviolet finiteness first appear at one loop in the guise of the "no-triangle hypothesis". We study one-loop amplitudes in pure Einstein gravity and point out the existence of cancellations similar to those found previously in N=8 supergravity. These cancellations go beyond those found in the one-loop effective action. Using unitarity, this suggests that generic theories of qua…
Using the method of maximal cuts, we obtain a form of the three-loop four-point scattering amplitude of N=8 supergravity in which all ultraviolet cancellations are made manifest. The Feynman loop integrals that appear have a graphical representation with only cubic vertices, and numerator factors that are quadratic in the loop momenta, rather than quartic as in the previous form. This quadratic behavior reflects cancellations beyond those required for finiteness, and matches the quadratic behavior of the three-loop four-point scattering amplitude in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. By direct integ…
We construct the three-loop four-point amplitude of N=8 supergravity using the unitarity method. The amplitude is ultraviolet finite in four dimensions. Novel cancellations, not predicted by traditional superspace power-counting arguments, render its degree of divergence in D dimensions to be no worse than that of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory -- a finite theory in four dimensions. Similar cancellations can be identified at all loop orders in certain unitarity cuts, suggesting that N=8 supergravity may be a perturbatively finite theory of quantum gravity.
Using the duality between color and kinematics, we construct the two- and three-loop amplitudes of half-maximal supergravity with matter multiplets and show that new divergences occur in D=4 and D=5. Bossard, Howe and Stelle have recently conjectured the existence of 16-supercharge off-shell harmonic superspaces in order to explain the ultraviolet finiteness of pure half-maximal supergravity with no matter multiplets in D=4 at three loops and in D=5 at two loops. By assuming the required superspace exists in D=5, they argued that no new divergences should occur at two loops even with the addit…
In these lectures I describe the remarkable ultraviolet behavior of N=8 supergravity, which through four loops is no worse than that of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory (a finite theory). I also explain the computational tools that allow multi-loop amplitudes to be evaluated in this theory - the KLT relations and the unitarity method - and sketch how ultraviolet divergences are extracted from the amplitudes.
Recent calculations have confirmed the belief that the ultraviolet behaviour of N-extended supergravities improves with increasing N. We give a comprehensive review.
We construct a seven-dimensional brane world in a slice of AdS_7, where the boundary matter content is fixed by the cancellation of anomalies. The seven-dimensional minimal N=2 gauged supergravity is compactified on the orbifold S^1/Z_2, and the supersymmetric bulk-boundary Lagrangian is consistently derived for boundary vector and hypermultipets up to fermionic bilinear terms. Anomaly cancellation then fixes the boundary gauge coupling in terms of the seven-dimensional Planck mass, and a topological mass parameter of the Chern-Simons term. In addition for gauge groups containing the standard …
We construct the Green-Schwarz terms of six-dimensional supergravity theories on spacetimes with non-trivial topology and gauge bundle. We prove the cancellation of all global gauge and gravitational anomalies for theories with gauge groups given by products of $U(n)$, $SU(n)$ and $Sp(n)$ factors, as well as for $E_8$. For other gauge groups, anomaly cancellation is equivalent to the triviality of a certain 7-dimensional spin topological field theory. We show in the case of a finite Abelian gauge group that there are residual global anomalies imposing constraints on the 6d supergravity. These …
Conventional wisdom holds that no four-dimensional gravity field theory can be ultraviolet finite. This understanding is based mainly on power counting. Recent studies confirm that one-loop N = 8 supergravity amplitudes satisfy the so-called `no-triangle hypothesis', which states that triangle and bubble integrals cancel from these amplitudes. A consequence of this hypothesis is that for any number of external legs, at one loop N = 8 supergravity and N = 4 super-Yang-Mills have identical superficial degrees of ultraviolet behavior in D dimensions. We describe how the unitarity method allows us…
In this lecture we summarize recent calculations pointing to the possible ultraviolet finiteness of N = 8 supergravity in four dimensions. We outline the modern unitarity method, which enables multiloop calculations in this theory and allows us to exploit a remarkable relation between tree-level gravity and gauge-theory amplitudes. We also describe a link between observed cancellations at loop level and improved behavior of tree-level amplitudes under large complex deformations of momenta.
We analyse one-loop graviton amplitudes in the field theory limit of a genus-one string theory computation. The considered amplitudes can be dimensionally reduced to lower dimensions preserving maximal supersymmetry. The particular case of the one-loop five-graviton amplitude is worked out in detail and explicitly features no triangle contributions. Based on a recursive form of the one-loop amplitude we investigate the contributions that will occur at n-point order in relation to the ``no-triangle'' hypothesis of N=8 supergravity. We argue that the origin of unexpected cancellations observed i…
${{\cal N}=4}$ supergravity is understood to contain a $U(1)$ anomaly which manifests itself via the nonvanishing of loop-level scattering amplitudes that violate a tree-level charge conservation rule. In this letter we provide detailed evidence that at one loop such anomalous amplitudes can be set to zero by the addition of a finite local counterterm. We show that the same counterterm also cancels evanescent contributions which play an important role in the analysis of ultraviolet divergences in dimensionally regularized gravity. These cancellations call for a reanalysis of the four-loop ultr…
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.
The $κ$--anomaly cancellation mechanism in the heterotic superstring determines the superspace constraints for N=1, D=10 Supergravity--Super--Yang--Mills theory. We point out that the constraints found recently in this way appear to disagree with superspace solutions found in the past. We solve this puzzle establishing perfect agreement between the two methods.
We study counterterms (CT's), candidates for UV divergences in the four-dimensional N=8 supergravity. They have been constructed long ago in a Lorentz covariant on shell superspace and recently in the chiral light-cone (LC) superspace. We prove that all of these CT's are ruled out since they are not available in the real LC superspace. This implies the perturbative UV finiteness of d=4 N=8 supergravity under the assumption that supersymmetry and continuous E7 symmetry are anomaly-free. The proof, based on the chiral nature of CT's in the LC superspace, is a generalization of the perturbative F…
This paper considers anomaly cancellation for eleven-dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary and theories related to heterotic $M$-theory. The Green-Schwarz mechanism is implemented without introducing distributions. The importance of the supersymmetry anomaly in constructing the low energy action is discussed and it is argued that a recently proposed action for heterotic $M$-theory gives a supersymmetric theory to all orders in the gravitational coupling $κ$.
We use the duality between color and kinematics to simplify the construction of the complete four-loop four-point amplitude of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, including the nonplanar contributions. The duality completely determines the amplitude's integrand in terms of just two planar graphs. The existence of a manifestly dual gauge-theory amplitude trivializes the construction of the corresponding N=8 supergravity integrand, whose graph numerators are double copies (squares) of the N=4 super-Yang-Mills numerators. The success of this procedure provides further nontrivial evidence that the dualit…
The theory of eleven dimensional supergravity on R^10 x S^1/Z_2 with super Yang-Mills theory on the boundaries is reconsidered. We analyse the general solution of the modified Bianchi identity for the four-form field strength using the equations of motion for the three-form and find that the four-form field strength has a unique value on the boundaries of R^10 x S^1/Z_2. Considering the local supersymmetry in the "downstairs" approach this leads to a relation between the eleven dimensional supergravity coupling constants in the "upstairs" and "downstairs" approaches. Moreover, it is shown usin…
An analysis of the neutron EDM and of the electron EDM in minimal N=1 supergravity unification with two CP violating phases is given. For the neutron the analysis includes the complete one loop gluino, chargino, and neutralino exchange diagrams for the electric dipole and the chromoelectric dipole operators, and also the contribution of the purely gluonic dimension six operator. It is shown that there exist significant regions in the six dimensional parameter space of the model where cancellations between the gluino and the chargino exchanges reduce the electric and the chromoelectric contribu…
On-shell Pauli-Villars regularization of the one-loop divergences of supergravity theories is used to study the anomaly structure of supergravity and the cancellation of field theory anomalies under a $U(1)$ gauge transformation and under the T-duality group of modular transformations in effective supergravity theories with three Kähler moduli $T^i$ obtained from orbifold compactification of the weakly coupled heterotic string. This procedure requires constraints on the chiral matter representations of the gauge group that are consistent with known results from orbifold compactifications. Paul…
Using the method of maximal cuts, we construct the complete D-dimensional integrand of the five-loop four-point amplitude of N = 4 super-Yang-Mills theory, including nonplanar contributions. In the critical dimension where this amplitude becomes ultraviolet divergent, we present a compact explicit expression for the nonvanishing ultraviolet divergence in terms of three vacuum integrals. This construction provides a crucial step towards obtaining the corresponding amplitude of N = 8 supergravity useful for resolving the general ultraviolet behavior of supergravity theories.
We derive an on-shell diagram recursion for tree-level scattering amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=7$ supergravity. The diagrams are evaluated in terms of Grassmannian integrals and momentum twistors, generalising previous results of Hodges in momentum twistor space to non-MHV amplitudes. In particular, we recast five and six-point NMHV amplitudes in terms of $\mathcal{N}=7$ R-invariants analogous to those of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills, which makes cancellation of spurious poles more transparent. Above 5-points, this requires defining momentum twistors with respect to different orderings of th…
From general arguments, we show that one-loop n-point amplitudes in colourless theories satisfy a new type of reduction formula. These lead to the existence of cancellations beyond supersymmetry. Using such reduction relations we prove the no-triangle hypothesis in maximal supergravity by showing that in four dimensions the n-point graviton amplitude contain only scalar box integral functions. We also discuss the reduction formulas in the context of gravity amplitudes with less and no supersymmetry.
We calculate the first three Gilkey-DeWitt (heat-kernel) coefficients, a0, a1 and a2, for massive particles having the spins of most physical interest in n dimensions, including the contributions of the ghosts and the fields associated with the appropriate generalized Higgs mechanism. By assembling these into supermultiplets we compute the same coefficients for general supergravity theories, and show that they vanish for many examples. One of the steps of the calculation involves computing these coefficients for massless particles, and our expressions in this case agree with -- and extend to m…
By solving the supersymmetry constraints for physical wave-functions, it is shown that the only two allowed bosonic states in $ N = 1 $ supergravity are of the form const.~exp~$(\pm I / \hbar) $, where $ I $ is an action functional of the three-metric. States containing a finite number of fermions are forbidden. In the case that the spatial topology is $ S^3 $, the state const.~exp~$(- I / \hbar)$ is the wormhole ground state, and the state const.~exp~$(I / \hbar)$ is the Hartle--Hawking state. $ N = 1 $ supergravity has no quantum ultraviolet divergences, and no quantum corrections.
In models of oriented closed strings, anomaly cancellations are deeply linked to the {\it modular invariance} of the torus amplitude. If open and/or unoriented strings are allowed, there are no non-trivial modular transformations in the additional genus-one amplitudes (Klein bottle, annulus and Möbius strip). As originally recognized by Green and Schwarz, in the ten-dimensional type-I superstring the anomaly cancellation results from a delicate interplay between the contributions of these additional surfaces. In lower-dimensional models, the possible presence of a number of antisymmetric tenso…
Disordered 2D chiral fermions provide an effective description of several materials including graphene and topological insulators. While previous analysis considered delta correlated disorder and no ultraviolet cut-offs, we consider here the effect of short range correlated disorder and the presence of a momentum cut-off, providing a more realistic description of condensed matter models. We show that the density of states is anomalous with a critical exponent function of the disorder and that conductivity is universal only when the ultraviolet cut-off is removed, as consequence of the supersym…
We use the recently developed generalized double-copy procedure to construct an integrand for the five-loop four-point amplitude of N=8 supergravity. This construction starts from a naive double copy of the previously computed corresponding amplitude of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. This is then systematically modified by adding contact terms generated in the context of the method of maximal unitarity cuts. For the simpler generalized cuts, whose corresponding contact terms tend to be the most complicated, we derive a set of formulas relating the contact contributions to the violations of the d…
We examine the ultraviolet behaviour of supergravity theories as a function of dimension and number of supercharges. We do so by the computation of one and two-loop physical on-shell four point amplitudes. For maximal supergravity, our computations prove the non-renomalisability of supergravity for $D \geq 6$ (including the maximal D=11 case) and give strong evidence for the existance of a five-loop counterterm in D=4. For type I supergravity our results indicate similar patterns. e shall also explore a remarkable relationship between gravity amplitudes and those of Yang-Mills theories. In man…
We demonstrate how duality invariance of the low energy expansion of the four-graviton amplitude in type II string theory determines the precise coefficients of multiloop logarithmic ultraviolet divergences of maximal supergravity in various dimensions. This is illustrated by the explicit moduli-dependence of terms of the form D^{2k}R^4, with k<= 3, in the effective action. Furthermore, we show that in the supergravity limit the perturbative contributions are swamped by an accumulation of non-perturbative effects of zero-action instantons.
Witten has argued that in $2+1$ dimensions local supersymmetry can ensure the vanishing of the cosmological constant without requiring the equality of bose and fermi masses. We find that this mechanism is implemented in a novel fashion in the (2+1)-dimensional supersymmetric abelian Higgs model coupled to supergravity. The vortex solitons are annihilated by half of the supersymmetry transformations. The covariantly constant spinors required to define these supersymmetries exist by virtue of a surprising cancellation between the Aharonov-Bohm phase and the phase associated with the holonomy of …
In this paper we derive higher derivative corrections to the eleven dimensional supergravity by applying the Noether method with respect to the N=1 local supersymmetry. An ansatz for the higher derivative effective action, which includes quartic terms of the Riemann tensor, is parametrized by 132 parameters. Then we show that by the requirement of the local supersymmetry, the higher derivative effective action is essentially described by two parameters. The bosonic parts of these two superinvariants completely match with the known results obtained by the perturbative calculations in the type I…
Before turning to the new result that D=11 supergravity is 2-loop nonrenormalizable, we give a very brief history of the ultraviolet problems of ordinary quantum gravity and of supergravities in general D.
We investigate the possibility of self-tuning of the effective 4D cosmological constant in 6D supergravity, to see whether it could naturally be of order 1/r^4 when compactified on two dimensions having Kaluza-Klein masses of order 1/r. In the models we examine supersymmetry is broken by the presence of non-supersymmetric 3-branes (on one of which we live). If r were sub-millimeter in size, such a cosmological constant could describe the recently-discovered dark energy. A successful self-tuning mechanism would therefore predict a connection between the observed size of the cosmological constan…
We consider the four-graviton amplitudes in CHL constructions providing four-dimensional N=4 models with various numbers of vector multiplets. We show that in these models the two-loop amplitude has a prefactor of d^2R^4. This implies a non-renormalisation theorem for the R^4 term, which forbids the appearance of a three-loop ultraviolet divergence in four dimensions in the four-graviton amplitude. We connect the special nature of the R^4 term to the U(1) anomaly of pure N=4 supergravity.
We consider the D^6 R^4 term which is the leading contribution in the low momentum expansion of the three loop, four graviton amplitude in maximal supergravity. We calculate the moduli dependent coefficient of this term in 11 dimensional supergravity compactified on T^2. Only diagrams that involve the Mercedes skeleton contribute resulting in a compact expression involving an integral over 6 Schwinger parameters. We express this integral as an integral over the moduli of an auxiliary T^3. This includes an SL(3,Z) invariant integral over the shape moduli of the T^3. We discuss the renormalizati…
