Writing the fully color dressed and graviton amplitudes, respectively, as ${\bf A}=<C|A> =<C|M|N> $ and ${\bf A}_{gr}= <\tilde N|M|N> $, where $|A> $ is a set of Kleiss-Kuijf color-ordered basis, $|N>, $|\tilde N> $ and $|C>$ are the similarly ordered numerators and color coefficients, we show that the propagator matrix $M$ has $(n-3)(n-3)!$ independent eigenvectors $|λ^0_j>$ with zero eigenvalue, for $n$-particle processes. The resulting equations $<λ^0_j|A> = 0$ are relations among the color ordered amplitudes. The freedom to shift $|N> \to |N> +\sum_j f_j|λ^0_j>$ and similarly for $|\tilde N>$, where $f_j$ are $(n-3)(n-3)!$ arbitrary functions, encodes generalized gauge transformations. They yield both BCJ amplitude and KLT relations, when such freedom is accounted for. Furthermore, $f_j$ can be promoted to the role of effective Lagrangian vertices in the field operator space.
In this paper, we study the tree amplitudes with gluons coupled to gravitons. We first study the relations among the mixed amplitudes. With BCFW on-shell recursion relation, we will show the color-order reversed relation, $U(1)$-decoupling relation and KK relation hold for tree amplitudes with gluons coupled to gravitons. We then study the disk relation which expresses mixed amplitudes by pure gluon amplitudes. More specifically we will prove the disk relation for mixed amplitudes with gluons coupled to one graviton. Using the disk relation and the properties of pure gluon amplitudes, the colo…
The operator product expansion (OPE) on the celestial sphere of conformal primary gluons and gravitons is studied. Asymptotic symmetries imply recursion relations between products of operators whose conformal weights differ by half-integers. It is shown, for tree-level Einstein-Yang-Mills theory, that these recursion relations are so constraining that they completely fix the leading celestial OPE coefficients in terms of the Euler beta function. The poles in the beta functions are associated with conformally soft currents.
Graviton and gluon scattering are studied from minimal physical assumptions such as Poincare and gauge symmetry as well as unitarity. The assumptions lead to an interesting and surprisingly restrictive set of linear equations. This shows gluon and graviton scattering to be related in many field and string theories, explaining and extending several known results. By systematic analysis exceptional graviton scattering amplitudes are derived which in general dimensions can not be related to gluon amplitudes. The simplicity of the formalism guarantees wide further applicability to gauge and gravit…
Recently, Bern, Carrasco and Johansson conjectured dual identities inside the gluon tree scattering amplitudes. In this paper, we use the properties of the heterotic string and open string tree scattering amplitudes to refine and derive these dual identities. These identities can be carried over to loop amplitudes using the unitarity method. Furthermore, given the $M$-gluon (as well as gluon-gluino) tree amplitudes, $M$-graviton (as well as graviton-gravitino) tree scattering amplitudes can be written down immediately, avoiding the derivation of Feynman rules and the evaluation of Feynman diag…
The double-soft limit of gluon and graviton amplitudes is studied in four dimensions at tree level. In general this limit is ambiguous and we introduce two natural ways of taking it: A consecutive double-soft limit where one particle is taken soft before the other and a simultaneous limit where both particles are taken soft uniformly. All limits yield universal factorisation formulae which we establish by BCFW recursion relations down to the subleading order in the soft momentum expansion. These formulae generalise the recently discussed subleading single-soft theorems. While both types of lim…
Tree-level scattering amplitudes for gravitons, gluons and Goldstone particles in any dimensions are strongly constrained by basic principles, and they are intimately related to each other via various relations. We study two types of "universal expansions" with respect to gauge bosons and Goldstone bosons: the former express tree amplitudes in Einstein gravity (Yang-Mills) as linear combinations of single-trace Einstein-Yang-Mills (Yang-Mills-$ϕ^3$) amplitudes with coefficients given by Lorentz products of polarizations and momenta; the latter express tree amplitudes in non-linear sigma model,…
The loop expansion for the n-point functions of N=4 Yang-Mills theory and N=8 supergravity can be formulated as the loop expansion of scalar field theory with an infinite subclass being the ladder diagrams. We consider the sum of ladder diagrams for gluon-gluon and graviton-graviton scattering in the Regge limit. The reggeization of the gluon and the graviton is discussed in this context and that of hep-th/0701217. If the Bern, Dixon, Smirnov conjecture for planar gluon-gluon scattering is correct, then the ladder sum for SU(N) gauge theory at large N, correctly gives the Regge limit, with Reg…
We extend the Berkovits-Maldacena prescription for MHV amplitudes of the open superstring to the closed superstring, showing that in the α'=0 limit it reduces to the result of supergravity found recently by Hodges. We also verify that this prescription calculates the correct superstring tree level MHV amplitude for 4 gravitons including α' corrections.
Recently, tree-level recursion relations for scattering amplitudes of gluons in Yang-Mills theory have been derived. In this note we propose a generalization of the recursion relations to tree-level scattering amplitudes of gravitons. We use the relations to derive new simple formulae for all amplitudes up to six gravitons. In particular, we present an explicit formula for the six graviton non-MHV amplitude. We prove the relations for MHV and next-to-MHV n-graviton amplitudes and for all eight-graviton amplitudes.
The CHY formula which describes an $n$-point tree level scattering amplitude for scalars, gluons or gravitons in arbitrary dimension [22], is used to prove the sub-sub-leading soft- graviton theorem recently proposed by Cachazo and Strominger [13].
We present all-multiplicity formulae for the tree-level scattering of gluons and gravitons in the maximal helicity violating (MHV) helicity configuration, calculated in certain chiral strong fields. The strong backgrounds we consider are self-dual plane waves in gauge theory and general relativity, which are treated exactly and admit a well-defined S-matrix. The gauge theory background-coupled MHV amplitude is simply a dressed analogue of the familiar Parke-Taylor formula, but the gravitational version has non-trivial new structures due to graviton tails. Both formulae have just one residual i…
We show that at tree level, on-shell gauge invariance can be used to fully determine the first subleading soft-gluon behavior and the first two subleading soft-graviton behaviors. Our proofs of the behaviors for n-gluon and n-graviton tree amplitudes are valid in D dimensions and are similar to Low's proof of universality of the first subleading behavior of photons. In contrast to photons coupling to massive particles, in four dimensions the soft behaviors of gluons and gravitons are corrected by loop effects. We comment on how such corrections arise from this perspective. We also show that lo…
The study of gluon radiation in QCD, in the limit of small ("soft") momentum, remains an active research area, with a variety of phenomenological and theoretical applications. Soft gluon emission leads to large logarithms in perturbation theory which have to be summed up to all orders in the coupling, and also governs the structure of infrared singularities. Recently, new techniques and mathematical structures have been discovered, which enhance our understanding of these all-order properties. This contribution will review a number of key topics, including the relationship between QCD and grav…
In this short note, we propose an algorithm based on the expansions of amplitudes, the dimensional reduction technic and the differential operators, to calculate the tree level scalar-graviton amplitudes with two massive scalars, as well as the tree level scalar-photon-graviton amplitudes with two massive scalars and one photon. While applying the unitarity method, these amplitudes are necessary inputs for the calculation of post-Newtonian and post-Minkowskian expansions in general relativity for two massive charged objects interact with gravity and electromagnetic field.
In the models with large extra-dimensions, we examine the production of a vector boson (γ/ Z) in association with the Kaluza-Klein (KK) modes of the graviton via gluon fusion. At the leading order, the process takes place through quark-loop box and triangle diagrams and it is ultraviolate finite. We report the results for the LHC. We also discuss the issues of anomaly and decoupling of heavy quarks in the amplitude.
We consider the low momentum expansion of the four graviton and the two graviton--two gluon amplitudes in heterotic string theory at one loop in ten dimensions, and analyze contributions upto the D^2 R^4 interaction from the four graviton amplitude, and the D^4 R^2 F^2 interaction from the two graviton--two gluon amplitude. The calculations are performed by obtaining equations for the relevant modular graph functions that arise in the modular invariant integrals, and involve amalgamating techniques used in the type II theory and the calculation of the elliptic genus in the heterotic theory.
Two new formulas which express n-graviton MHV tree amplitudes in terms of sums of squares of n-gluon amplitudes are discussed. The first formula is derived from recursion relations. The second formula, simpler because it involves fewer permutations, is obtained from the variant of the Berends, Giele, Kuijf formula given in Arxiv:0707.1035.
In this paper we continue our study of the tree level MHV graviton scattering amplitudes from the point of view of celestial holography. In arXiv:2008.04330 we showed that the celestial OPE of two gravitons in the MHV sector can be written as a linear combination of $\overline{SL(2,\mathbb C)}$ current algebra and supertranslation descendants. In this note we show that the OPE is in fact manifestly invariant under the infinite dimensional Virasoro algebra as is expected for a $2$-D CFT. This is consistent with the conjecture that the holographic dual in $4$-D asymptotically flat space time is …
We present new relations for scattering amplitudes of color ordered gluons, massive quarks and scalars minimally coupled to gravity. Tree-level amplitudes of arbitrary matter and gluon multiplicities involving one graviton are reduced to partial amplitudes in QCD or scalar QCD. The obtained relations are a direct generalization of the recently found Einstein-Yang-Mills relations. The proof of the new relation employs a simple diagrammatic argument trading the graviton-matter couplings to an `upgrade' of a gluon coupling with a color-kinematic replacement rule enforced. The use of the Melia-Joh…
We present and prove a formula for the MHV scattering amplitude of n gravitons at tree level. Some of the more interesting features of the formula, which set it apart as being significantly different from many more familiar formulas, include the absence of any vestigial reference to a cyclic ordering of the gravitons--making it in a sense a truly gravitational formula, rather than a recycled Yang-Mills result, and the fact that it simultaneously manifests both S_{n-2} symmetry as well as large-z behavior that is O(1/z^2) term-by-term, without relying on delicate cancellations. The formula is s…
We show that the form of the recently proposed subleading soft graviton and gluon theorems in any dimension are severely constrained by elementary arguments based on Poincaré and gauge invariance as well as a self-consistency condition arising from the distributional nature of scattering amplitudes. Combined with the assumption of a local form as it would arise from a Ward identity the orbital part of the subleading operators is completely fixed by the leading universal Weinberg soft pole behavior. The polarization part of the differential subleading soft operators in turn is determined up to …
In arXiv:2008.04330 it was shown that supertranslation and $\overline{SL(2,\mathbb C)}$ current algebra symmetries, corresponding to leading and subleading soft graviton theorems, are enough to determine the tree level MHV graviton scattering amplitudes. In this note we clarify the role of subsubleading soft graviton theorem in this context.
We present new and explicit formulae for the one-loop integrands of scattering amplitudes in non-supersymmetric gauge theory and gravity, valid for any number of particles. The results exhibit the colour-kinematics duality in gauge theory and the double-copy relation to gravity, in a form that was recently observed in supersymmetric theories. The new formulae are expressed in a particular representation of the loop integrand, with only one quadratic propagator, which arises naturally from the framework of the loop-level scattering equations. The starting point in our work are the expressions b…
In this paper, we explore Bell inequality violation for $2\rightarrow2$ scattering in Effective Field Theories (EFTs) of photons, gluons, and gravitons. Using the CGLMP Bell parameter ($I_2$), we show that, starting from an appropriate initial non-product state, the Bell inequality can always be violated in the final state (i.e.,$I_2 >2$) at least for some scattering angle. For an initial product state, we demonstrate that abelian gauge theories behave qualitatively differently than non-abelian gauge theories (or Gravity) from the point of view of Bell violation in the final state: in the non-…
It has recently been shown that the Matrix model and supergravity give the same predictions for three graviton scattering. This contradicts an earlier claim in the literature (hep-th/9710174). We explain the error in this earlier work, and go on to show that certain terms in the $n$-graviton scattering amplitude involving $v^{2n}$ are given correctly by the Matrix model. The Matrix model also generates certain $v^6$ terms in four graviton scattering at three loops, which do not seem to have any counterparts in supergravity. The connection of these results with nonrenormalization theorems is di…
In a recent note we presented a compact formula for the complete tree-level S-matrix of pure Yang-Mills and gravity theories in arbitrary spacetime dimension. In this paper we show that a natural formulation also exists for a massless colored cubic scalar theory. In Yang-Mills, the formula is an integral over the space of n marked points on a sphere and has as integrand two factors. The first factor is a combination of Parke-Taylor-like terms dressed with U(N) color structures while the second is a Pfaffian. The S-matrix of a U(N)xU(N') cubic scalar theory is obtained by simply replacing the P…
In the AdS_5/CFT_4 set-up, extremal three-point functions involving two giant 1/2 BPS gravitons and one point-like 1/2 BPS graviton, when calculated using semi-classical string theory methods, match the corresponding three-point functions obtained in the tree-level gauge theory. The string theory computation relies on a certain regularization procedure whose justification is based on the match between gauge and string theory. We revisit the regularization procedure and reformulate it in a way which allows a generalization to the ABJM set-up where three-point functions of 1/2 BPS operators are …
Using the Cachazo-He-Yuan (CHY) formalism, we prove a recursive expansion of tree level single trace Einstein-Yang-Mills (EYM) amplitudes with arbitrary number of gluons and gravitons, which is valid for general spacetime dimensions and any helicity configurations. The recursion is written in terms of fewer-graviton EYM amplitudes and pure Yang-Mills (YM) amplitudes, which can be further carried out until we reach an expansion in terms of pure YM amplitudes in Kleiss-Kuijf (KK) basis. Our expansion then generates naturally a spanning tree structure rooted on gluons whose vertices are gravitons…
We compute the graviton two scalar off-shell interaction vertex at tree level in Type IIB superstring theory on the pp-wave background using the light-cone string field theory formalism. We then show that the tree level vertex vanishes when all particles are on-shell and conservation of p_{+} and p_{-} are imposed. We reinforce our claim by calculating the same vertex starting from the corresponding SUGRA action expanded around the pp-wave background in the light-cone gauge.
Tree-level scattering amplitudes for a scalar particle coupled to an arbitrary number N of photons and a single graviton are computed. We employ the worldline formalism as the main tool to compute the irreducible part of the amplitude, where all the photons and the graviton are directly attached to the scalar line, then derive a tree replacement rule to construct the reducible parts of the amplitude which involve irreducible pure N-photon two-scalar amplitudes where one photon line emits the graviton. We test our construction by verifying the on-shell gauge and diffeomorphism Ward identities, …
We show how the recently introduced "Pure Connection Formulation" of gravity provides a natural framework for approaching the problem of computing graviton scattering amplitudes. In particular, we show that the interaction vertices are greatly simplified in this formalism as compared to the Einstein-Hilbert perturbation theory. This, in turns, leads to very simple Feynman rules that we employ for the direct computations. Furthermore, this framework naturally extends to wider class of gravitational theories, which encompasses General Relativity as a special case. We compute all the possible tre…
We compute the operator product expansions of gluons and gravitons in celestial CFT from the worldsheet OPE of vertex operators of four-dimensional ambitwistor string theories. Remarkably, the worldsheet OPE localizes on the short-distance singularity between vertex operator insertions which in turn coincides with the OPE limit of operator insertions on the celestial sphere. The worldsheet CFT dynamically produces known celestial OPE coefficients -- as well as infinite towers of SL$(2,\mathbb{R})$ descendant contributions to the celestial OPE -- without any truncations or approximations. We ob…
We compute the three-graviton tree amplitude in Type IIB superstring theory compactified to six dimensions using the manifestly (6d) supersymmetric Berkovits-Vafa-Witten worldsheet variables. We consider two cases of background geometry: the flat space example R6xK3, and the curved example AdS3xS3xK3 with Ramond flux, and compute the correlation functions in the bulk.
We investigate tree-level five-point amplitudes in scalar-QCD expressed in terms of Sudakov variables and find the equivalent "gravitational" counterparts using the color-kinematics duality proposed by Bern, Carrasco, and Johannson. Taking the multi-Regge limit in the gravitational amplitudes, we show that those pieces in the coupling of two reggeized gravitons to one on-shell graviton directly stemming from the double copy of the vertex for two reggeized gluons to one on-shell gluon are universal and properly reproduced by the duality.
We argue that the scattering of gravitons in ordinary Einstein gravity possesses a hidden conformal symmetry at tree level in any number of dimensions. The presence of this conformal symmetry is indicated by the dilaton soft theorem in string theory, and it is reminiscent of the conformal invariance of gluon tree-level amplitudes in four dimensions. To motivate the underlying prescription, we demonstrate that formulating the conformal symmetry of gluon amplitudes in terms of momenta and polarization vectors requires manifest reversal and cyclic symmetry. Similarly, our formulation of the confo…
We find double copy relations between classical radiating solutions in Yang-Mills theory coupled to dynamical color charges and their counterparts in a cubic bi-adjoint scalar field theory which interacts linearly with particles carrying bi-adjoint charge. The particular color-to-kinematics replacements we employ are motivated by the BCJ double copy correspondence for on-shell amplitudes in gauge and gravity theories. They are identical to those recently used to establish relations between classical radiating solutions in gauge theory and in dilaton gravity. Our explicit bi-adjoint solutions a…
We use insights from superstring field theory to prove the subleading soft graviton theorem for tree amplitudes of (compactified) heterotic and type II string theories for arbitrary number of finite energy NS (NSNS) sector external states but only one soft graviton. We also prove the leading soft graviton theorem in these theories for arbitrary number of external soft gravitons. In our analysis there is no restriction on the mass and spin of the finite energy external states. This method can also be used to give a proof of the subleading soft graviton theorem for tree amplitudes in quantum fie…
We show how the link variables of Arkani-Hamed, Cachazo, Cheung and Kaplan (ACCK), can be used to compute general gluon tree amplitudes in the twistor string. They arise from instanton sectors labelled by d, with d=n-1, where n is the number of negative helicities. Read backwards, this shows how the various forms for the tree amplitudes studied by ACCK can be grouped into contour integrals whose structure implies the existence of an underlying string theory.
Cachazo and Strominger recently proposed an extension of the soft-graviton theorem found by Weinberg. In addition, they proved the validity of their extension at tree level. This was motivated by a Virasoro symmetry of the gravity S-matrix related to BMS symmetry. As shown long ago by Weinberg, the leading behavior is not corrected by loops. In contrast, we show that with the standard definition of soft limits in dimensional regularization, the subleading behavior is anomalous and modified by loop effects. We argue that there are no new types of corrections to the first subleading behavior bey…
Pasterski, Shao and Strominger have recently proposed that massless scattering amplitudes can be mapped to correlators on the celestial sphere at infinity via a Mellin transform. We apply this prescription to arbitrary $n$-point tree-level gluon amplitudes. The Mellin transforms of MHV amplitudes are given by generalized hypergeometric functions on the Grassmannian $Gr(4,n)$, while generic non-MHV amplitudes are given by more complicated Gelfand $A$-hypergeometric functions.
In this talk we review the work in [1,2,3] where we have studied the applicability of the color-kinematics duality to the scattering of two distinguishable scalar matter particles with one gluon emission in QCD, or one graviton emission in Einstein gravity. We have shown that the duality works well in the Regge limit under two different extensions of the gauge theory: the introduction of a new scalar contact interaction and the relaxation of the distinguishability of the scalars. Both modifications correspond to theories obtained by dimensional reduction from higher-dimensional pure gauge theo…
