We advance the exploration of cluster-algebraic patterns in the building blocks of scattering amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. In particular we conjecture that, given a maximal cut of a loop amplitude, Landau singularities and poles of each Yangian invariant appearing in any representation of the corresponding Leading Singularities can be found together in a cluster. We check these adjacencies for all one-loop amplitudes up to 9 points. Along the way, we also prove that all (rational) N$^2$MHV Yangian invariants are cluster adjacent, confirming original conjectures.
We propose a simple geometric algorithm for determining the complete set of branch points of amplitudes in planar N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory directly from the amplituhedron, without resorting to any particular representation in terms of local Feynman integrals. This represents a step towards translating integrands directly into integrals. In particular, the algorithm provides information about the symbol alphabets of general amplitudes. We illustrate the algorithm applied to the one- and two-loop MHV amplitudes.
The momentum amplituhedron is a positive geometry encoding tree-level scattering amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills directly in spinor-helicity space. In this paper we classify all boundaries of the momentum amplituhedron $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}$ and explain how these boundaries are related to the expected factorization channels, and soft and collinear limits of tree amplitudes. Conversely, all physical singularities of tree amplitudes are encoded in this boundary stratification. Finally, we find that the momentum amplituhedron $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}$ has Euler characteristic equal to one, …
The all-loop integrand for scattering amplitudes in planar N = 4 SYM is determined by an "amplitude form" with logarithmic singularities on the boundary of the amplituhedron. In this note we provide strong evidence for a new striking property of the superamplitude, which we conjecture to be true to all loop orders: the amplitude form is positive when evaluated inside the amplituhedron. The statement is sensibly formulated thanks to the natural "bosonization" of the superamplitude associated with the amplituhedron geometry. However this positivity is not manifest in any of the current approache…
The scattering amplitudes of planar N = 4 super-Yang-Mills exhibit a number of remarkable analytic structures, including dual conformal symmetry and logarithmic singularities of integrands. The amplituhedron is a geometric construction of the integrand that incorporates these structures. This geometric construction further implies the amplitude is fully specified by constraining it to vanish on spurious residues. By writing the amplitude in a dlog basis, we provide nontrivial evidence that these analytic properties and "zero conditions" carry over into the nonplanar sector. This suggests that …
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 $\mathcal{N}=4$ 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 $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}$ is then the image of the positive Grassmannian via a map determined by such kinematics. The scattering amplitudes are extracted …
We initiate a comprehensive investigation of the geometry of the amplituhedron, a recently found geometric object whose volume calculates the integrand of scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 SYM theory. We do so by introducing and studying its stratification, focusing on four-point amplitudes. The new stratification exhibits interesting combinatorial properties and positivity is neatly captured by permutations. As explicit examples, we find all boundaries for the two and three loop amplitudes and related geometries. We recover the stratifications of some of these geometries from the singularit…
We compute the two-loop result for the null pentagonal Wilson loop with a Lagrangian insertion (normalized by the Wilson loop without insertion) in planar, maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. This finite observable is closely related to the Amplituhedron, and it is reminiscent of finite parts of planar two-loop five-particle scattering amplitudes. We verify that, up to this loop order, the leading singularities are given by the same conformally invariant expressions that appear in all-plus pure Yang-Mills amplitudes. The accompanying weight-four transcendental functions are expressed i…
We apply the Landau equations, whose solutions parameterize the locus of possible branch points, to the one- and two-loop Feynman integrals relevant to MHV amplitudes in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory. We then identify which of the Landau singularities appear in the symbols of the amplitudes, and which do not. We observe that all of the symbol entries in the two-loop MHV amplitudes are already present as Landau singularities of one-loop pentagon integrals.
Positivity and Cluster Structures in Landau Analysis
Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences（马克斯·普朗克科学促进研究所数学研究所）；Max Planck Institute for Physics（马克斯·普朗克物理研究所）；Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology（冲绳科学技术大学院大学）
We study some properties of a singular Landau-Ginzburg family characterized by the multi-variable superpotential $W=-X^{-1}(Y_1Y_2)^{n-1} + {1\over n} (Y_1Y_2)^n - Y_3Y_4$. We will argue that (the infra-red limit of) this theory describes the topological degrees of freedom of the $c=1$ string compactified at $n$ times the self-dual radius. We also briefly comment on the possible realization of these line singularities as singularities of Calabi-Yau manifolds.
We consider the analytic properties of Feynman integrals from the perspective of general A-discriminants and A-hypergeometric functions introduced by Gelfand,Kapranov and Zelevinsky (GKZ). This enables us, to give a clear and mathematically rigour description of the singular locus, also known as Landau variety, via principal A-determinants. We also comprise a description of the various second type singularities. Moreover, by the Horn-Kapranov-parametrization we give a very efficient way to calculate a parametrization of Landau varieties. We furthermore present a new approach to study the sheet…
Using N=2 Landau-Ginzburg theories, we examine the recent conjectures relating the SU(3) WZW modular invariants, finite subgroups of SU(3) and Gorenstein singularities. All isolated three-dimensional Gorenstein singularities do not appear to be related to any known Landau-Ginzburg theories, but we present some curious observations which suggest that the SU(3)_n/SU(2)xU(1) Kazama-Suzuki model may be related to a deformed geometry of C^3/Z_{n+3}xZ_{n+3}. The toric resolution diagrams of those particular singularities are also seen to be classifying the diagonal modular invariants of the SU(3)_n …
We analyze the spectrum of the N=(2,2) supersymmetric Landau-Ginzburg theory in two dimensions with superpotential W=X^{n+2}-lambda X^2. We find the full BPS spectrum of this theory by exploiting the direct connection between the UV and IR limits of the theory. The computation utilizes results from the Picard-Lefschetz theory of singularities and its extension to boundary singularities. The additional fact that this theory is integrable requires that the BPS states do not close under scattering. This observation fixes the masses of non-BPS states as well.
We consider the compactification of the IIA string to (1+1) dimensions on non-compact 4-folds that are ALE fibrations. Supersymmetry requires that the compactification include 4-form fluxes, and a particular class of these models has been argued by Gukov, Vafa and Witten to give rise to a set of perturbed superconformal coset models that also have a Landau-Ginzburg description. We examine all these ADE models in detail, including the exceptional cosets. We identify which perturbations are induced by the deformation of the singularity, and compute the Landau-Ginzburg potentials exactly. We also…
Propagators of confined particles, especially the Landau-gauge gluon propagator, may have complex singularities as suggested by recent numerical works as well as several theoretical models, e.g., motivated by the Gribov problem. In this paper, we study formal aspects of propagators with complex singularities in reconstructing Minkowski propagators starting from Euclidean propagators by the analytic continuation. We derive the following properties rigorously for propagators with arbitrary complex singularities satisfying some boundedness condition. The two-point Schwinger function with complex …
We consider Lorentzian correlators of local operators. In perturbation theory, singularities occur when we can draw a position-space Landau diagram with null lines. In theories with gravity duals, we can also draw Landau diagrams in the bulk. We argue that certain singularities can arise only from bulk diagrams, not from boundary diagrams. As has been previously observed, these singularities are a clear diagnostic of bulk locality. We analyze some properties of these perturbative singularities and discuss their relation to the OPE and the dimensions of double-trace operators. In the exact nonp…
We study the singular Landau surfaces of planar diagrams contributing to scattering of a massless quark and antiquark in 3+1 dimensions. In particular, we look at singularities which remain after integration with respect to the various angular degrees of freedom. We derive a general relation between these singularities and the singularities of quark- antiquark scattering in 1+1 dimensions. We then classify all Landau surfaces of the 1+1 dimensional system. Combining these results, we deduce that the singular surfaces of the angle- integrated 3+1 dimensional amplitude must satisfy at least one …
In massless quantum field theories the Landau equations are invariant under graph operations familiar from the theory of electrical circuits. Using a theorem on the $Y$-$Δ$ reducibility of planar circuits we prove that the set of first-type Landau singularities of an $n$-particle scattering amplitude in any massless planar theory, in any spacetime dimension $D$, at any finite loop order in perturbation theory, is a subset of those of a certain $n$-particle $\lfloor{(n{-}2)^2/4}\rfloor$-loop "ziggurat" graph. We determine this singularity locus explicitly for $D=4$ and $n=6$ and find that it co…
Landau and cluster structures of one-loop amplitudes in ${\mathcal N}=4$ SYM in dimensional regularization
School of Mathematics and Hamilton Mathematics Institute, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland（都柏林三一学院数学与汉密尔顿数学研究所）；Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), Onna, Okinawa, Japan（冲绳科学技术大学院大学）
The Landau equations give a physically useful criterion for how singularities arise in Feynman amplitudes. Furthermore, they are fundamental to the uses of perturbative QCD, by determining the important regions of momentum space in asymptotic problems. Generalizations are also useful. We will show that in existing treatments there are significant gaps in derivations, and in some cases implicit assumptions that will be shown here to be false in important cases like the massless Feynman graphs ubiquitous in QCD applications. In this paper is given a new proof that the Landau condition is both ne…
We consider different aspects of the problem of cosmological singularity such as the BKL oscillatory approach to singularity, the new features of the cosmological dynamics in the neighbourhood of the singularity in multidimensional and superstring cosmological models and their connections with such a modern branch of mathematics as infinite-dimensional Lie algebras. Besides, we consider some new types of cosmological singularities which were widely discussed during last decade after the discovery of the phenomenon of cosmic acceleration.
By generalizing the Landau-Ginzburg/Calabi-Yau correspondence for hypersurfaces, we can relate a Calabi-Yau complete intersection to a hybrid Landau-Ginzburg model: a family of isolated singularities fibered over a projective line. In recent years Fan, Jarvis, and Ruan have defined quantum invariants for singularities of this type, and Clader and Clader-Ross have provided a equivalence between these invariants and Gromov-Witten invariants of complete intersections. For Calabi-Yau complete intersections of two cubics, we show that this equivalence is directly related - via Chen character - to t…
The pinched/non-pinched classification of intersections of causal singularities of propagators in Minkowski space is reconsidered in the context of the theory of asymptotic operation as a first step towards extension of the latter to non-Euclidean asymptotic regimes. A highly visual distribution-theoretic technique of singular wave fronts is tailored to the needs of the theory of Feynman diagrams. Besides a simple derivation of the usual Landau equations in the case of the conventional singularities, the technique naturally extends to other types of singularities e.g. due to linear denominator…
We consider families of multiple and simple integrals of the ``Ising class'' and the linear ordinary differential equations with polynomial coefficients they are solutions of. We compare the full set of singularities given by the roots of the head polynomial of these linear ODE's and the subset of singularities occurring in the integrals, with the singularities obtained from the Landau conditions. For these Ising class integrals, we show that the Landau conditions can be worked out, either to give the singularities of the corresponding linear differential equation or the singularities occurrin…
Swansea University（斯旺西大学）；National and Kapodistrian University of Athens（雅典国立卡波迪斯特里亚斯大学）；City, University of London（伦敦城市大学）；Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY（德国电子同步辐射中心）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；Trinity College, Dublin（都柏林三一学院）
Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford（牛津大学数学研究所）；Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学希格斯理论物理中心）；Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Columbia University（哥伦比亚大学物理系理论物理中心）；Institute for Advanced Study（普林斯顿高等研究院）
We discuss duality and mirror symmetry phenomena of Landau-Ginzburg orbifolds considering their elliptic genera. Under the duality (or mirror) transform performed by orbifoldizing the Landau-Ginzburg model via some discrete group of the superpotential we observe that the roles of the untwisted and twisted sectors are exchanged. As explicit evidence detailed orbifold data are presented for $N=2$ minimal models, Arnold's exceptional singularities, $K3$ surfaces constructed from Arnold's singularities and Fermat hypersurfaces. (To appear in the proceedings of the workshop, ``Quantum Field Theory,…
Various features of the even order poles appearing in the S-matrices of simply-laced affine Toda field theories are analysed in some detail. In particular, the coefficients of first- and second-order singularities appearing in the Laurent expansion of the S-matrix around a general $2N^{\rm th}$ order pole are derived in a universal way using perturbation theory at one loop. We show how to cut loop diagrams contributing to the pole into particular products of tree-level graphs that depend on the on-shell geometry of the loop; in this way, we recover the coefficients of the Laurent expansion aro…
We study the analyticity properties of amplitudes in theories with nonlocal vertices of the type occurring in string field theory and a wide class of nonlocal field theory models. Such vertices are given in momentum space by entire functions of rapid decay in certain (including Euclidean) directions ensuring UV finiteness but are necessarily of rapid increase in others. A parametric representation is obtained by integrating out the loop (Euclidean) momenta after the introduction of generalized Schwinger parameters. Either in the original or parametric representation, the well-defined resulting…
A physical characterization of Landau singularities is emphasized, which should trace the lower boundary N_f^* of the conformal window in QCD and supersymmetric QCD. A natural way to disentangle ``perturbative'' from ``non-perturbative'' contributions below N_f^* is suggested. Assuming an infrared fixed point is present in the perturbative part of the QCD coupling even in some range below N_f^* leads to the condition gamma(N_f^*)=1, where gamma is the critical exponent. This result is incompatible with the existence of an analogue of Seiberg free dual magnetic phase in QCD. Using the Banks-Zak…
We present a more detailed picture of the infrared regime of Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory. This is done within a novel framework that allows one to take into account the influence of finite scales within an infrared power counting analysis. We find that there are two qualitatively different infrared fixed points of the full system of Dyson-Schwinger equations. The first extends the known scaling solution, where the ghost dynamics is dominant and gluon propagation is strongly suppressed. It features in addition to the strong divergences of gluonic vertex functions in the previously considered…
We prove the Landau-Ginzburg mirror symmetry conjecture between invertible quasi-homogeneous polynomial singularities at all genera. That is, we show that the FJRW theory (LG A-model) of such a polynomial is equivalent to the Saito-Givental theory (LG B-model) of the mirror polynomial.
The aim of this topical article is to outline the fundamental ideas underlying the recently developed Fractional Analytic Perturbation Theory (FAPT) of QCD and present its main calculational tools together with key applications. For this, it is first necessary to review previous methods to apply QCD perturbation theory at low spacelike momentum scales, where the influence of the Landau singularities becomes inevitable. Several concepts are considered and their limitations are pointed out. The usefulness of FAPT is discussed in terms of two characteristic hadronic quantities: the perturbatively…
In this paper, we prove the mirror symmetry conjecture between the Saito-Givental theory of exceptional unimodular singularities on Landau-Ginzburg B-side and the Fan-Jarvis-Ruan-Witten theory of their mirror partners on Landau-Ginzburg A-side. On the B-side, we compute the genus-zero generating function from a perturbative formula of primitive forms introduced by the first three authors recently. This computation matches the orbifold-Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch and WDVV calculations in FJRW theory on the A-side. The coincidence of the full data at all genera is established by reconstruction tec…
We investigate a large class of perturbative QCD (pQCD) renormalization schemes whose beta functions $β(a)$ are meromorphic functions of the running coupling and give finite positive value of the coupling $a(Q^2)$ in the infrared regime ("freezing"), $a(Q^2) \to a_0$ for $Q^2 \to 0$. Such couplings automatically have no singularities on the positive axis of the squared momenta $Q^2$ ($ \equiv -q^2$). Explicit integration of the renormalization group equation (RGE) leads to the implicit (inverted) solution for the coupling, of the form $\ln (Q^2/Q^2_{\rm in}) = {\cal H}(a)$. An analysis of this…
We calculate the three- and four-loop corrections to the massless fermion propagator in three-dimensional quenched Quantum Electrodynamics with four-component fermions. The three-loop correction is finite and gauge invariant but the four-loop one has singularities except in the Feynman gauge where it is also finite. Our results explicitly show that, up to four loops, gauge-dependent terms are completely determined by lower order ones in agreement with the Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin transformation.
