A new ambitwistor string is constructed based on a ten-dimensional supertwistor model for the massless superparticle. Although covariant quantization is complicated by reducibility issues, a light-cone gauge analysis can be easily performed. We show that with this analysis, this supertwistor ambitwistor string is equivalent to the RNS ambitwistor string in light-cone gauge. In order to make the comparison, we develop the light-cone gauge analysis of the RNS ambitwistor string which has some novel features in terms of its expression of the scattering equations through interaction point operators.
We present a novel ten-dimensional description of ambitwistor strings. This formulation is based on a set of supertwistor variables involving pure spinors and a set of constraints previously introduced in the context of the $D=10$ superparticle following a ten-dimensional twistor-like construction introduced by Berkovits. We perform a detailed quantum-mechanical analysis of the constraint algebra, we show that the corresponding central charges vanish, and after considering a convenient gauge fixing procedure, physical states are found. Vertex operators are explicitly constructed and, by notici…
We analyze the free ambitwistor string field theory action for the bosonic string, heterotic string and both GSO sectors of the Type II string. The spectrum contains non-unitary states and provides an interesting consistency test for one-loop ambitwistor string computations.
In this paper we present the null string origin of the ambitwistor string. Classically, the null string is the tensionless limit of string theory, and so too is the Ambitwistor string. Both have as constraint algebra the Galilean Conformal Algebra in two dimensions. But something interesting happens in the quantum theory since there is an ambiguity in quantizing the null string. We show that, given a particular choice of quantization scheme and a particular gauge, the null string coincides with the ambitwistor string both classically and quantum mechanically. We also show that the same holds f…
After a brief overview of the operator formalism for conventional string theory, an operator formalism for ambitwistor string theory is presented. It is shown how tree level supergravity scattering amplitudes are recovered in this formalism. More general applications of this formalism to loop amplitudes and the construction of an ambitwistor string field theory are briefly discussed.
Mason and Skinner proposed the ambitwistor string theory which directly reproduces the formulas for the amplitudes of massless particles proposed by Cachazo, He and Yuan. In this paper we discuss geometries of the moduli space of worldsheets associated to the bosonic or the RNS ambitwistor string. Further, we investigate the factorization properties of the amplitudes when an internal momentum is near on-shell in the abstract CFT language. Along the way, we propose the existence of the ambitwistor strings with three or four fermionic worldsheet currents.
We analyse the BRST cohomology of the Ramond sector of heterotic ambitwistor theory. We also write the free string field theory action and compute the supersymmetry transformations.
We describe the pure spinor string in the $AdS_5\times S^5$ using unconstrained matrices first used by Roiban and Siegel for the Green-Schwarz superstring.
We present vertex operators for ambitwistor strings around generic Yang-Mills, gravity and NS-NS backgrounds. The requirement that vertex operators lie in the BRST cohomology of the worldsheet theory enforces the appropriate linear equations of motion (as well as gauge fixing conditions) for the respective perturbations in these backgrounds. Due to the nature of ambitwistor strings, no approximation is taken and all calculations around the backgrounds are exact.
The relationships between extended BMS symmetries at null infinity and Weinberg's soft theorems for gravitons and photons together with their subleading generalizations are developed using ambitwistor string theory. Ambitwistor space is the phase space of complex null geodesics in complexified space-time. We show how it can be canonically identified with the cotangent bundle of null infinity. BMS symmetries of null infinity lift to give a hamiltonian action on ambitwistor space, both in general dimension and in its twistorial 4-dimensional representation. General vertex operators arise from ha…
We construct the ambitwistor pure spinor string in a general type II supergravity background in the semi-classical regime. Almost all supergravity constraints are obtained from nilpotency of the BRST charge and further consistency conditions from additional world-sheet symmetries. We also discuss the case of $AdS_5\times S^5$ background.
Using the ambitwistor string, we complete the list of celestial OPE coefficients for supersymmetric theories. This uses the ambitwistor string worldsheet CFT to dynamically generate the OPE coefficients for maximally supersymmetric gauge theory, gravity and Einstein-Yang-Mills theories, including all helicity and orientation configurations. This extends previous purely bosonic results to include supersymmetry and provides explicit formulas which are, to the best of our knowledge, not in the literature. We also examine how the supersymmetric infinite dimensional soft algebras behave compared to…
Recently we have considered supertwistor reformulation of the D=4 N=1,2 superstring action that comprises Newman-Penrose dyad components and is classically equivalent to the Green-Schwarz one. It was shown that in the covariant kappa-symmetry gauge the supertwistor representation of the string action simplifies. Here we analyze its Hamiltonian formulation, classify the constraints on the phase-space variables, and find the covariant set of generators of the gauge symmetries. Quantum symmetries of the supertwistor representation of the string action are examined applying the world-sheet CFT tec…
We present a new operator in the ambitwistor string which glues together correlators with fewer points or of lower genus. It underpins the recursive construction of tree-level CHY scattering amplitudes by Dolan \& Goddard, as well as the computation of loop integrands on a Riemann sphere by Geyer et al. The gluing operator is a tractable object due to the finiteness of the spectrum. In particular, we demonstrate how it gives rise to the complete one-loop integrand in SYM and SUGRA. The operator is conjectured to be the path integral incarnation of the ambitwistor string propagator, and to coin…
The known Lorentz invariant string field theory for open N=2 strings is combined with a generalization of the twistor description of anti-self-dual (super) Yang-Mills theories. We introduce a Chern-Simons-type Lagrangian containing twistor variables and derive the Berkovits-Siegel covariant string field equations of motion via the twistor correspondence. Both the purely bosonic and the maximally space-time supersymmetric cases are considered.
In this work, some aspects of the ambitwistor pure spinor string are investigated. The $b$ ghost is presented and its main properties are derived in a simple way, very similar to the usual pure spinor $b$ ghost construction. The heterotic case is also addressed with a new proposal for the BRST charge. The BRST cohomology is shown to correctly describe the heterotic supergravity spectrum and a semi-composite $b$ ghost is constructed.
We investigate the relation between 4d ambitwistor string theory and on-shell diagrams for planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills and N=8 supergravity, and deduce several new results about their scattering amplitudes at tree-level and 1-loop. In particular, we derive new Grassmannian integral formulae for tree-level amplitudes and obtain new worldsheet formulae for 1-loop amplitudes which are manifestly supersymmetric and supported on scattering equations refined by MHV degree.
Tree-level scattering amplitudes in massless theories not only exhibit a simplicity entirely unexpected from Feynman diagrams, but also an underlying structure remarkably reminiscent of worldsheet theory correlators. These features can be explained by ambitwistor strings - two-dimensional chiral conformal field theories in an auxiliary target space, the complexified phase space of null geodesics. The aim of this thesis is to explore the ambitwistor string approach to understand these structures in amplitudes, and thereby provide a new angle on quantum field theories. The first part of the thes…
In marked contrast to conventional string theory, ambitwistor strings remain solvable worldsheet theories when coupled to curved background fields. We use this fact to consider the quantization of ambitwistor strings on plane wave metric and plane wave gauge field backgrounds. In each case, the worldsheet model is anomaly free as a consequence of the background satisfying the field equations. We derive vertex operators (in both fixed and descended picture numbers) for gravitons and gluons on these backgrounds from the worldsheet CFT, and study the 3-point functions of these vertex operators on…
Ambitwistor strings are chiral, infinite tension analogues of conventional string theory whose target space is the space of complex null geodesics and whose spectrum consists exclusively of massless states. At genus zero, these strings underpin the Cachazo-He-Yuan formulae for tree level scattering of gravitons, gluons and scalars. In this paper we extend these formulae in a number of directions. Firstly, we consider Ramond sector vertex operators and construct simple amplitudes involving space-time fermions. These agree with tree amplitudes in ten dimensional supergravity and super Yang--Mill…
We study the behaviour of Yang-Mills and gravity amplitudes under the soft limit in the four-dimensional ambitwistor string formalism and derive their soft theorems to arbitrary order. For this purpose, we apply some mathematics. Methods of combinatorics are used for the expansion of $δ$ functions, and knowledge of graph theory is used for the expansion of reduced determinants. Based on these preliminaries, we expand the formulas of Yang-Mills and gravity amplitudes about the soft parameter $ε$, and obtain soft theorems to arbitrary order.
We discuss a number of problems associated with the circle compactification of the bosonic tensile ambitwistor string with the asymmetric vacuum choice. By considering the spectrum and physical state conditions, we show that the circle radius plays a role as a tuning parameter which determines the low energy effective field theory. At the self dual point, we construct the current operators and compute OPEs between them. While the final outcome remains as yet inconclusive, several new results are obtained. Through the current algebra analysis we show that there is a subsector of the massless st…
We review some ideas on the relationship between massless superparticles and the division algebras to provide a new perspective on ambitwsitor string theories. The key concern is the critical theory. We show that this theory has a reducible soft algebra, rather than a conventional Lie algebra. This algebra only closes on-shell. The BV procedure is employed to deal with the on-shell closure of the algebra and the classical Master Action is presented.
We describe new ambitwistor string theories that give rise to the recent amplitude formulae for Einstein-Yang-Mills, (Dirac)-Born-Infeld, Galileons and others introduced by Cachazo, He and Yuan. In the case of the Einstein-Yang-Mills amplitudes, an important role is played by a novel worldsheet conformal field theory that provides the appropriate colour factors precisely without the spurious multitrace terms of earlier models that had to be ignored by hand. This is needed to obtain the correct multitrace terms that arise when Yang-Mills is coupled to gravity.
The sectorized description of the (chiral) heterotic string using pure spinors has been misleadingly viewed as an infinite tension string. One evidence for this fact comes from the tree level 3-point graviton amplitude, which we show to contain the usual Einstein term plus a higher curvature contribution. After reintroducing a dimensionful parameter $\ell$ in the theory, we demonstrate that the heterotic model is in fact two-fold, depending on the choice of the supersymmetric sector, and that the spectrum also contains one massive (open string like) multiplet. By taking the $\ell\to\infty$ lim…
Witten established correspondence between multiparton amplitudes in four-dimensional maximally supersymmetric gauge theory and topological string theory on supertwistor space $CP^{3|4}$. We extend Witten's correspondence to gauge theories with lower supersymmetries, product gauge groups, and fermions and scalars in complex representations. Such gauge theories arise in high-energy limit of the Standard Model of strong and electroweak interactions. We construct such theories by orbifolding prescription. Much like gauge and string theories, such prescription is applicable equally well to topologi…
We construct an ambitwistor string that describes Type II supergravity on AdS$_3\times$S$^3$ with pure NS flux. The background Einstein equations ensure that the model is anomaly free. The spectrum consists of supergravity fluctuations around this background, with no higher string states. This theory transforms the problem of computing $n$-point tree-level amplitudes on AdS$_3$ into that of understanding an $\mathfrak{sl}_2$ Gaudin integrable system, whose representations are determined by the dual boundary operators and whose spectral parameters correspond to the worldsheet insertion points. …
Feynman diagrams have been superseded as the tool of choice for calculating scattering amplitudes. Various other methods are not only more efficient but also explicitly exhibit beautiful structures obscured by Feynman diagrams. This thesis aims to lay some groundwork on how two of these methods, ambitwistor strings and the double copy, can be generalised to scattering in curved backgrounds. In the first part of this thesis, a heterotic ambitwistor string model coupled to a non-abelian background gauge field is constructed. It is shown that after decoupling gravity this model is anomaly free if…
We consider $D$-dimensional amplitudes in $R^2$ gravities (conformal gravity in $D=4$) and in the recently introduced $(DF)^2$ gauge theory, from the perspective of the CHY formulae and ambitwistor string theory. These theories are related through the BCJ double-copy construction, and the $(DF)^2$ gauge theory obeys color-kinematics duality. We work out the worldsheet details of these theories and show that they admit a formulation as integrals on the support of the scattering equations, or alternatively, as ambitwistor string theories. For gravity, this generalizes the work done by Berkovits …
We derive from ambitwistor strings new formulae for two-loop scattering amplitudes in supergravity and super-Yang-Mills theory, with any number of particles. We start by constructing a formula for the type II ambitwistor string amplitudes on a genus-two Riemann surface, and then study the localisation of the moduli space integration on a degenerate limit, where the genus-two surface turns into a Riemann sphere with two nodes. This leads to scattering amplitudes in supergravity, expressed in the formalism of the two-loop scattering equations. For super-Yang-Mills theory, we import `half' of the…
We consider the description of reggeon amplitudes (Wilson lines form factors) in N=4 SYM within the framework of four dimensional ambitwistor string theory. The latter is used to derive scattering equations representation for reggeon amplitudes with multiple reggeized gluons present. It is shown, that corresponding tree-level string correlation function correctly reproduces previously obtained Grassmannian integral representation of reggeon amplitudes in N=4 SYM.
Ambitwistor strings are chiral (holomorphic) strings whose target is the space of complex null geodesics, ambitwistor space. We introduce twistor representations of ambitwistor space in 6 and 5 dimensions. In 6d the twistor representation is naturally conformally invariant. Anomaly cancellation leads to models that describe biadjoint scalar amplitudes and certain conformally invariant gauge and gravity theories, respectively of 4$^{\rm th}$ and 6$^{\rm th}$ order. There are three such models, reflecting triality for the conformal group SO(8) associated to these 6d models. On reduction to five …
We develop ambitwistor string theories for 4 dimensions to obtain new formulae for tree-level gauge and gravity amplitudes with arbitrary amounts of supersymmetry. Ambitwistor space is the space of complex null geodesics in complexified Minkowski space, and in contrast to earlier ambitwistor strings, we use twistors rather than vectors to represent this space. Although superficially similar to the original twistor string theories of Witten, Berkovits and Skinner, these theories differ in the assignment of worldsheet spins of the fields, rely on both twistor and dual twistor representatives for…
We show that string theories admit chiral infinite tension analogues in which only the massless parts of the spectrum survive. Geometrically they describe holomorphic maps to spaces of complex null geodesics, known as ambitwistor spaces. They have the standard critical space--time dimensions of string theory (26 in the bosonic case and 10 for the superstring). Quantization leads to the formulae for tree--level scattering amplitudes of massless particles found recently by Cachazo, He and Yuan. These representations localize the vertex operators to solutions of the same equations found by Gross …
The scattering equation formalism for scattering amplitudes, and its stringy incarnation, the ambitwistor string, remains a mysterious construction. In this paper, we pursue the study a gauged-unfixed version of the ambitwistor string known as the null string. We explore the following three aspects in detail; its complexification, gauge fixing, and amplitudes. We first study the complexification of the string; the associated symmetries and moduli, and connection to the ambitwistor string. We then look in more details at the leftover symmetry algebra of the string, called Galilean conformal alg…
We consider the description of form factors of local and Wilson line operators (reggeon amplitudes) in N=4 SYM within the framework of four dimensional ambitwistor string theory. We present the explicit expressions for string composite operators corresponding to stress-tensor operator supermultiplet and Wilson line operator insertion. It is shown, that corresponding tree-level string correlation functions correctly reproduce previously obtained Grassmannian integral representations. As by product we derive four dimensional tree-level scattering equations representations for the mentioned form …
We discuss infinite-dimensional hidden symmetry algebras (and hence an infinite number of conserved nonlocal charges) of the N-extented self-dual super Yang-Mills equations for general N\leq4 by using the supertwistor correspondence. Furthermore, by enhancing the supertwistor space, we construct the N-extended self-dual super Yang-Mills hierarchies, which describe infinite sets of graded Abelian symmetries. We also show that the open topological B-model with the enhanced supertwistor space as target manifold will describe the hierarchies. Furthermore, these hierarchies will in turn -- by a sup…
Bosonic and RNS chiral strings have been defined from a singular gauge fixing of the respective Polyakov and spinning string actions, enforcing, among other things, the finite nature of their physical spectra. Except for the heterotic case, the tensionless limits of such chiral models have been shown to describe the same field theories predicted by their ambitwistor analogues. In this paper, we study the Green-Schwarz formulation for Type II and heterotic superstrings in a singular gauge. After performing a light-cone gauge analysis, their physical spectra are shown to match those of RNS chira…
Ambitwistor-strings are chiral strings whose targets are spaces of complex massless particles, and whose correlation functions directly lead to simple, compact formulae for scattering amplitudes and loop integrands for massless gauge and gravity theories. This article extends this framework to worldsheet models for massive particles in 4d, obtained via a symmetry reduction of a higher dimensional massless model. The target space of the resulting models turns out to be the phase space of 4d massive particles in a twistorial representation, and so the worldsheet theory agrees with the two-twisto…
Scattering amplitudes computed by superstring perturbation theory are known to holomorphically split into chiral half integrands at fixed internal loop momentum. It is established by direct computation that upon reduction to the ordinary moduli space, the chiral half integrands of the superstring match those computed by the ambitwistor string in the limit of zero tension ($α'\rightarrow\infty$). Subtleties that arise at higher genus due to the nonprojectedness of the supermoduli space are considered and arguments as to their resolution are furnished.
We show that, at the classical level, the recently proposed `ambitwistor string' model is equivalent to the spinor moving frame formulation of null-supersting, which in its turn is equivalent to Siegel's formulation of closed twistor string or to its higher dimensional generalizations. Although the null-(super)string is usually considered as describing the tensionless limit of (super)string, we show that its action can be derived from the spinor moving frame formulation of superstring also in the infinite tension limit. This observation allows us to argue on the absence of critical dimensions …
We construct two matrix models from twistor string theory: one by dimensional reduction onto a rational curve and another one by introducing noncommutative coordinates on the fibres of the supertwistor space P^(3|4)->CP^1. We comment on the interpretation of our matrix models in terms of topological D-branes and relate them to a recently proposed string field theory. By extending one of the models, we can carry over all the ingredients of the super ADHM construction to a D-brane configuration in the supertwistor space P^(3|4). Eventually, we present the analogue picture for the (super) Nahm co…
Starting with Witten's twistor string, chiral string theories have emerged that describe field theory amplitudes without the towers of massive states of conventional strings. These models are known as ambitwistor strings due to their target space; the space of complexified null geodesics, also called ambitwistor space. Correlators in these string theories directly yield compact formulae for tree-level amplitudes and loop integrands, in the form of worldsheet integrals fully localized on solutions to constraints known as the scattering equations. In this chapter, we discuss two incarnations of …
The GS superstring on AdS_5 x S^5 has a nonlinearly realized, spontaneously broken SU(2,2|4) symmetry. Here we introduce a two-dimensional model in which the unbroken SU(2,2|4) symmetry is linearly realized. The basic variables are supertwistors, which transform in the fundamental representation of this supergroup. The quantization of this supertwistor model leads to the complete oscillator construction of the unitary irreducible representations of the centrally extended SU(2,2|4). They include the states of d=4 SYM theory, massless and KK states of AdS_5 supergravity, and the descendants on A…
Scattering amplitudes in $d+2$ dimensions can be expressed in terms of a conformal basis, for which the S-matrix behaves as a CFT correlation function on the celestial $d$-sphere. We explain how compact expressions for the full tree-level S-matrix of gauge theory, gravity and other QFTs extend to this conformal basis, and are easily derived from ambitwistor strings. Using these formulae and their worldsheet origins, we prove various tree-level 'conformal soft theorems' in gauge theory and gravity in any dimension; these arise from limits where the scaling dimension of an external state in the …
Strominger and collaborators recently proposed that soft theorems for gauge and gravity amplitudes can be interpreted as Ward identities of a 2d CFT at null infinity. In this paper, we will consider a specific realization of this CFT known as ambitwistor string theory, which describes 4d Yang-Mills and gravity with any amount of supersymmetry. Using 4d ambitwistor string theory, we derive soft theorems in the form of an infinite series in the soft momentum which are valid to subleading order in gauge theory and sub-subleading order in gravity. Furthermore, we describe how the algebra of soft l…
The scattering equations give striking formulae for massless scattering amplitudes at tree level and, as shown recently, at one loop. The progress at loop level was based on ambitwistor string theory, which naturally yields the scattering equations. We proposed that, for ambitwistor strings, the standard loop expansion in terms of the genus of the worldsheet is equivalent to an expansion in terms of nodes of a Riemann sphere, with the nodes carrying the loop momenta. In this paper, we show how to obtain two-loop scattering equations with the correct factorization properties. We adapt genus-two…
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…
We obtain compact formulae for tree super-amplitudes for 10 and 11-dimensional supergravity and 10-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills and Born-Infeld. These are based on the \emph{polarised scattering equations}. These incorporate polarization data into a spinor field on the Riemann sphere and arise from a twistorial representation of ambitwistor strings in 10 and 11 dimensions. They naturally extend amplitude formulae to manifest maximal supersymmetry. The framework is the natural generalization of twistorial ambitwistor string formulae found previously in four and six dimensions and is in…
We introduce a bosonic ambitwistor string theory in AdS space. Even though the theory is anomalous at the quantum level, one can nevertheless use it in the classical limit to derive a novel formula for correlation functions of boundary CFT operators in arbitrary space-time dimensions. The resulting construction can be treated as a natural extension of the CHY formalism for the flat-space S-matrix, as it similarly expresses tree-level amplitudes in AdS as integrals over the moduli space of Riemann spheres with punctures. These integrals localize on an operator-valued version of scattering equat…
The topological B-model with target the supertwistor space CP(3|4) is known to describe perturbative amplitudes of N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory. We review the extension of this correspondence to the superconformal gauge theories that arise as marginal deformations of N=4 by considering the effects of turning on a certain closed string background, which results in non-anticommutativity in the fermionic directions of CP(3|4). We generalise the twistor string prescription for amplitudes to this case and illustrate it with some simple examples.
Using the ambitwistor string, we compute tree-level celestial amplitudes for biadjoint scalars, Yang-Mills and gravity to all multiplicities. They are presented in compact CHY-like formulas with operator-valued scattering equations and numerators acting on a generalized hypergeometric function. With these we extend the celestial double copy to tree-level amplitudes with arbitrary number of external states. We also show how color-kinematics duality is implemented in celestial amplitudes and its interpretation in terms of a generalized twisted cohomology theory.
A covariant closed superstring field theory, equivalent to classical ten-dimensional Type II supergravity, is presented. The defining conformal field theory is the ambitwistor string worldsheet theory of Mason and Skinner. This theory is known to reproduce the scattering amplitudes of Cachazo, He and Yuan in which the scattering equations play an important role and the string field theory naturally incorporates these results. We investigate the operator formalism description of the ambitwsitor string and propose an action for the string field theory of the bosonic and supersymmetric theories. …
