Four-gluon Amplitude Research Articles

Color-kinematics duality with minimal deformation: two-loop four-gluon amplitudes in pure Yang-Mills revisited

The conjectured duality between color and kinematics has significantly advanced our understanding of both gauge and gravitational theories. However, constructing numerators that manifest the color-kinematics (CK) duality, even for the two-loop four-gluon amplitude in pure Yang-Mills, has been challenging. In this paper, we revisit this amplitude and show that the difficulty of applying CK duality can be overcome by introducing a simple deformation. Our approach distinguishes itself from previous studies by maximizing the use of off-shell CK duality while maintaining a compact ansatz. In particular, the deformation we introduce satisfies a subset of off-shell dual Jacobi relations. The resulting numerators are presented in d-dimensionally Lorentz invariant local form and are applicable to all helicities of external gluons. The solution we provide can be directly employed to construct the corresponding gravitational amplitude through double copy. Our findings suggest a novel and efficient strategy for constructing high-loop gauge and gravitational amplitudes using CK duality.

An off-shell Wilson loop

It is well-known that on-shell maximally helicity-violating gluon scattering amplitudes in planar maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory are dual to a bosonic Wilson loop on a null-polygonal contour. The light-like nature of the intervals is a reflection of the mass-shell condition for massless gluons involved in scattering. Presently, we introduce a Wilson loop prototype on a piece-wise curvilinear contour that can be interpreted in the T-dual language to correspond to nonvanishing gluon off-shellness. We analyze it first for four sites at one loop and demonstrate that it coincides with the four-gluon amplitude on the Coulomb branch. Encouraged by this fact, we move on to the two-loop order. To simplify our considerations, we only focus on the Sudakov asymptotics of the Wilson loop, when the off-shellness goes to zero. The latter serves as a regulator of short-distance divergences around the perimeter of the loop, i.e., divergences when gluons are integrated over a small vicinity of the Wilson loop cusps. It does not however regulate conventional ultraviolet divergences of interior closed loops. This unavoidably introduces a renormalization scale dependence and thus scheme dependence into the problem. With a choice of the scale setting and a finite renormalization, we observe exponentiation of the double logarithmic scaling of the Wilson loop with the accompanying exponent being given by the so-called hexagon anomalous dimension, which recently made its debut in the origin limit of six-leg gluon amplitudes. This is contrary to the expectation for the octagon anomalous dimension to rather emerge from our analysis suggesting that the current object encodes physics different from the Coulomb branch scattering amplitudes.

Celestial Yang-Mills amplitudes and D = 4 conformal blocks

We discuss the properties of recently constructed “single-valued” celestial four-gluon amplitudes. We show that the amplitude factorizes into the “current” part and the “scalar” part. The current factor is given by the group-dependent part of the Wess-Zumino-Witten correlator of four holomorphic currents with a non-vanishing level of Kač-Moody algebra. The scalar factor can be expressed in terms of a complex integral of the Koba-Nielsen form, similar to the integrals describing four-point correlators in Coulomb gas models and, more generally, in the infinite central charge limit of Liouville theory. The scalar part can be also obtained by a dimensional reduction of a single D = 4 conformal block and the shadow block from Minkowski space to the celestial sphere.

Elements of celestial conformal field theory

In celestial holography, four-dimensional scattering amplitudes are considered as two-dimensional conformal correlators of a putative two-dimensional celestial conformal field theory (CCFT). The simplest way of converting momentum space amplitudes into CCFT correlators is by taking their Mellin transforms with respect to light-cone energies. For massless particles, like gluons, however, such a construction leads to three-point and four-point correlators that vanish everywhere except for a measure zero hypersurface of celestial coordinates. This is due to the four-dimensional momentum conservation law that constrains the insertion points of the operators associated with massless particles. These correlators are reminiscent of Coulomb gas correlators that, in the absence of background charges, vanish due to charge conservation. We supply the background momentum by coupling Yang-Mills theory to a background dilaton field, with the (complex) dilaton source localized on the celestial sphere. This picture emerges from the physical interpretation of the solutions of the system of differential equations discovered by Banerjee and Ghosh. We show that the solutions can be written as Mellin transforms of the amplitudes evaluated in such a dilaton background. The resultant three-gluon and four-gluon amplitudes are single-valued functions of celestial coordinates enjoying crossing symmetry and all other properties expected from standard CFT correlators. We use them to extract OPEs and compare them with the OPEs extracted from multi-gluon celestial amplitudes without a dilaton background. We perform the conformal block decomposition of the four-gluon single-valued correlator and determine the dimensions, spin and group representations of the entire primary field spectrum of the Yang-Mills sector of CCFT.

Conformal blocks from celestial gluon amplitudes. Part II. Single-valued correlators

In a recent paper, here referred to as part I, we considered the celestial four-gluon amplitude with one gluon represented by the shadow transform of the corresponding primary field operator. This correlator is ill-defined because it contains branch points related to the presence of conformal blocks with complex spin. In this work, we adopt a procedure similar to minimal models and construct a single-valued completion of the shadow correlator, in the limit when the shadow is “soft.” By following the approach of Dotsenko and Fateev, we obtain an integral representation of such a single-valued correlator. This allows inverting the shadow transform and constructing a single-valued celestial four-gluon amplitude. This amplitude is drastically different from the original Mellin amplitude. It is defined over the entire complex plane and has correct crossing symmetry, OPE and bootstrap properties. It agrees with all known OPEs of celestial gluon operators. The conformal block spectrum consists of primary fields with dimensions ∆ = m + iλ, with integer m ≥ 1 and various, but always integer spin, in all group representations contained in the product of two adjoint representations.

Full-Color Two-Loop Four-Gluon Amplitude in N=2 Supersymmetric QCD.

We present the fully integrated form of the two-loop four-gluon amplitude in N=2 supersymmetric quantum chromodynamics with gauge group SU(N_{c}) and with N_{f} massless supersymmetric quarks (hypermultiplets) in the fundamental representation. Our result maintains full dependence on N_{c} and N_{f}, and relies on the existence of a compact integrand representation that exhibits the duality between color and kinematics. Specializing to the N=2 superconformal theory, where N_{f}=2N_{c}, we obtain remarkably simple amplitudes that have an analytic structure close to that of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, except that now certain lower-weight terms appear. We comment on the corresponding results for other gauge groups.

Application of Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten recursion relations and the Feynman-tree theorem to the four-gluon amplitude with all plus helicities

Recently, it has been shown that in gauge theories amplitudes to any perturbation order can be obtained by gluing together simple three-point on-shell amplitudes. These three-point amplitudes, in turn, are fixed by locality and Lorentz invariance. This factorization into three-point on-shell amplitudes follows from the Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten recursion relations and the Feynman-tree theorem. In an explicit example, that is, the four-gluon amplitude with all plus helicities, we illustrate the method. In a conventional calculation, this amplitude corresponds to one-loop box diagrams.

Two-Loop Four-Gluon Amplitudes from Numerical Unitarity.

We present the first numerical computation of two-loop amplitudes based on the unitarity method. As a proof of principle, we compute the four-gluon process in the leading-color approximation. We discuss the new method, analyze its numerical properties, and apply it to reconstruct the analytic form of the amplitudes. The numerical method is universal, and can be automated to provide multiscale two-loop computations for phenomenologically relevant signatures at hadron colliders.

Color-kinematics duality in one-loop four-gluon amplitudes with matter

Four-point one-loop nonsupersymmetric pure Yang-Mills amplitudes with the duality between color and kinematics manifest have been constructed in previous work. Here, we extend the discussion to fermions and scalars circulating in the loop with all external gluons. This gives another nontrivial loop-level example showing that the duality between color and kinematics holds in nonsupersymmetric gauge theory. The construction is valid in any spacetime dimension and written in terms of formal polarization vectors. We also convert these expressions into a four-dimensional form with explicit external helicity states. Using this, we compare our results to one-loop duality-satisfying amplitudes that are already present in literature.

Higher level string resonances in four dimensions

We study higher level Regge resonances of open superstrings, focusing on the universal part of the Neveu–Schwarz sector common to all D-brane realizations of the standard model. For Regge states with masses far above the fundamental string scale, we discuss the spin-dependence of their decay rates into massless gauge bosons. Extending our previous work on lowest level string excitations, we study the second mass level at which spins range from 0 to 3. We construct the respective vertex operators and compute the amplitudes involving one massive particle and two or three gauge bosons. To illustrate the use of Britto–Cachazo–Feng–Witten (BCFW) recursion relations in superstring theory, we build the four-gluon amplitude from on-shell amplitudes involving string resonances and gauge bosons.

More loops and legs in Higgs-regulated $$ \mathcal{N} = 4 $$ SYM amplitudes

We extend the analysis of Higgs-regulated planar amplitudes of N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to four loops for the four-gluon amplitude and to two loops for the five-gluon amplitude. Our calculations are consistent with a proposed all-loop ansatz for planar MHV n-gluon amplitudes that is the analog of the BDS ansatz in dimensional regularization. In all cases considered, we have verified that the IR-finite parts of the logarithm of the amplitudes have the same dependence on kinematic variables as the corresponding functions in dimensionally-regulated amplitudes (up to overall additive constants, which we determine). We also study various Regge limits of N=4 SYM planar n-gluon amplitudes. Euclidean Regge limits of Higgs-regulated n \geq 4 amplitudes yield results similar in form to those found using dimensional regularization, but with different expressions for the gluon trajectory and Regge vertices resulting from the different regulator scheme. We also show that the Regge limit of the four-gluon amplitude is dominated at next-to-leading-log order by vertical ladder diagrams together with the class of vertical ladder diagrams with a single H-shaped insertion.

Higgs-regularized three-loop four-gluon amplitude in $ \mathcal{N} = 4 $ SYM: exponentiation and Regge limits

We compute the three-loop contribution to the \( \mathcal{N} = 4 \) supersymmetric Yang-Mills planar four-gluon amplitude using the recently-proposed Higgs IR regulator of Alday, Henn, Plefka, and Schuster. In particular, we test the proposed exponential ansatz for the four-gluon amplitude that is the analog of the BDS ansatz in dimensional regularization. By evaluating our results at a number of kinematic points, and also in several kinematic limits, we establish the validity of this ansatz at the three-loop level.We also examine the Regge limit of the planar four-gluon amplitude using several different IR regulators: dimensional regularization, Higgs regularization, and a cutoff regularization. In the latter two schemes, it is shown that the leading logarithmic (LL) behavior of the amplitudes, and therefore the lowest-order approximation to the gluon Regge trajectory, can be correctly obtained from the ladder approximation of the sum of diagrams. In dimensional regularization, on the other hand, there is no single dominant set of diagrams in the LL approximation. We also compute the NLL and NNLL behavior of the L-loop ladder diagram using Higgs regularization.

IR divergences and Regge limits of subleading-color contributions to the four-gluon amplitude in 𝒩 = 4 SYM theory

We derive a compact all-loop-order expression for the IR-divergent part of the N=4 SYM four-gluon amplitude, which includes both planar and all subleading-color contributions, based on the assumption that the higher-loop soft anomalous dimension matrices are proportional to the one-loop soft anomalous dimension matrix, as has been recently conjectured. We also consider the Regge limit of the four-gluon amplitude, and we present evidence that the leading logarithmic growth of the subleading-color amplitudes is less severe than that of the planar amplitudes. We examine possible 1/N^2 corrections to the gluon Regge trajectory, previously obtained in the planar limit from the BDS ansatz. The double-trace amplitudes have Regge behavior as well, with a nonsense-choosing Regge trajectory and a Regge cut which first emerges at three loops.

Subleading-color contributions to gluon-gluon scattering in 𝒩 = 4 SYM theory and relations to 𝒩 = 8 supergravity

We study the subleading-color (nonplanar) contributions to the four-gluon scattering amplitudes in = 4 supersymmetric SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. Using the formalisms of Catani and of Sterman and Tejeda-Yeomans, we develop explicit expressions for the infrared-divergent contributions of all the subleading-color L-loop amplitudes up to three loops, and make some conjectures for the IR behavior for arbitrary L. We also derive several intriguing relations between the subleading-color one- and two-loop four-gluon amplitudes and the four-graviton amplitudes of = 8 supergravity. The exact one- and two-loop = 8 supergravity amplitudes can be expressed in terms of the one- and two-loop N-independent = 4 SYM amplitudes respectively, but the natural generalization to higher loops fails, despite having a simple interpretation in terms of the 't Hooft picture. We also find that, at least through two loops, the subleading-color amplitudes of = 4 SYM theory have uniform transcendentality (as do the leading-color amplitudes). Moreover, the = 4 SYM Catani operators, which express the IR-divergent contributions of loop amplitudes in terms of lower-loop amplitudes, are also shown to have uniform transcendentality, and to be the maximum transcendentality piece of the QCD Catani operators.

Conformal properties of four-gluon planar amplitudes and Wilson loops

We present further evidence for a dual conformal symmetry in the four-gluon planar scattering amplitude in N = 4 SYM. We show that all the momentum integrals appearing in the perturbative on-shell calculations up to four loops are dual to true conformal integrals, well defined off shell. Assuming that the complete off-shell amplitude has this dual conformal symmetry and using the basic properties of factorization of infrared divergences, we derive the special form of the finite remainder previously found at weak coupling and recently reproduced at strong coupling by AdS/CFT. We show that the same finite term appears in a weak coupling calculation of a Wilson loop whose contour consists of four light-like segments associated with the gluon momenta. We also demonstrate that, due to the special form of the finite remainder, the asymptotic Regge limit of the four-gluon amplitude coincides with the exact expression evaluated for arbitrary values of the Mandelstam variables.

Infrared limit of gluon amplitudes at strong coupling

In this Letter, we propose that the infrared structure of gluon amplitudes at strong coupling can be fully extracted from a local consideration near cusps. This is consistent with field theory and correctly reproduces the infrared divergences of the four-gluon amplitude at strong coupling calculated recently by Alday and Maldacena.

Four-loop cusp anomalous dimension from obstructions

We introduce a method for extracting the cusp anomalous dimension at $L$ loops from four-gluon amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=4$ Yang-Mills without evaluating any integrals that depend on the kinematical invariants. We show that the anomalous dimension only receives contributions from the obstructions introduced in [F. Cachazo, M. Spradlin, and A. Volovich, J. High Energy Phys. 07 (2006) 007]. We illustrate this method by extracting the two- and three-loop anomalous dimensions analytically and the four-loop one numerically. The four-loop result was recently guessed to be ${f}^{(4)}=\ensuremath{-}(4{\ensuremath{\zeta}}_{2}^{3}+24{\ensuremath{\zeta}}_{2}{\ensuremath{\zeta}}_{4}+50{\ensuremath{\zeta}}_{6}\ensuremath{-}4(1+r){\ensuremath{\zeta}}_{3}^{2})$ with $r=\ensuremath{-}2$ using integrability and string theory arguments in [N. Beisert, B. Eden, and M. Staudacher, J. Stat. Mech. (2007) P021]. Simultaneously, ${f}^{(4)}$ was computed numerically in [Z. Bern, M. Czakon, L. J. Dixon, D. A. Kosower, and V. A. Smirnov, Phys. Rev. D 75, 085010 (2007)] from the four-loop amplitude obtaining, with best precision at the symmetric point $s=t$, $r=\ensuremath{-}2.028(36)$. Our computation is manifestly $s/t$ independent and improves the precision to $r=\ensuremath{-}2.000\text{ }02(3)$, providing strong evidence in favor of the conjecture. The improvement is possible due to a large reduction in the number of contributing terms, as well as a reduction in the number of integration variables in each term.

Elastic QCD Dipole Amplitude at One Loop

We derive the analytic expression of the two one-loop dipole contributions to the elastic four-gluon amplitude in QCD. The first one corresponds to the double QCD Pomeron exchange, the other to an order ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}^{2}$ correction to one-Pomeron exchange. Both are expressed in terms of the square of the recently derived triple QCD Pomeron vertex and involve a summation over all conformal eigenvectors of the Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov kernel.

Two-loop four-gluon amplitudes in N = 4 super-Yang-Mills

Using cutting techniques we obtain the two-loop N = 4 super-Yang-Mills helicity amplitudes for four-gluon scattering in terms of scalar integral functions. The N = 4 amplitudes are considerably simpler than corresponding QCD amplitudes and therefore provide a testing ground for exploring two-loop amplitudes. The amplitudes are constructed directly in terms of gauge invariant quantities and therefore remain relatively compact throughout the calculation. We also present a conjecture for the leading color four-gluon amplitudes to all orders in the perturbative expansion.

String techniques for the calculation of renormalization constants in field theory

We describe a set of methods to calculate gauge theory renormalization constants from string theory, all based on a consistent prescription to continue off-shell open bosonic string amplitudes. We prove the consistency of our prescription by explicitly evaluating the renormalizations of the two-, three- and four-gluon amplitudes, and showing that they obey the appropriate Ward identities. The field theory limit thus performed corresponds to the background field method in Feynman gauge. We identify precisely the regions in string moduli space that correspond to different classes of Feynman diagrams, and in particular we show how to isolate contributions to the effective action. Ultraviolet divergent terms are then encoded in a single string integral over the modular parameter τ. Finally, we derive a multiloop expression for the effective action by computing the partition function of an open bosonic string interacting with an external non-abelian background gauge field.