A twistor approach to the regularization of divergences

Abstract

One object of the twistor programme, as developed principally by R. Penrose, is the production of a manifestly finite theory of scattering in quantum field theory. Earlier work has shown that progress towards this goal is obstructed even at the first-order level, by the appearance of an infrared divergence in the standard theory. New studies in many-dimensional contour integration now suggest a simple but very powerful modification to this branch of twistor theory, in which the full (as opposed to the projective) twistor space plays an essential role. In this modified theory there arise natural contour-integral expressions with the effect of eliminating the infrared divergence previously noted, and replacing it by a finite quantity. This regularization can be specified by using a formalism of ‘inhomogeneous twistor diagrams’. The interpretation of this new formalism is not yet wholly clear, but the inhomogeneity can be seen as a means of relinquishing the concept of space-time point, while preserving light-cone structure. It therefore suggests a quite fresh approach to the divergences of quantum field theory.