arXiv subjects

Burkhard Eden

Publications and source records attributed to Burkhard Eden.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

From correlation functions to scattering amplitudes

We study the correlators of half-BPS protected operators in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, in the limit where the positions of the adjacent operators become light-like separated. We compute the loop corrections by means of Lagrangian insertions. The divergences resulting from the light-cone limit are regularized by changing the dimension of the integration measure over the insertion points. Switching from coordinates to dual momenta, we show that the logarithm of the correlator is identical with twice the logarithm of the matching MHV gluon scattering amplitude. We present a number of examples of this new relation, at one and two loops.

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arXiv2013

Local integrands for the five-point amplitude in planar N=4 SYM up to five loops

Integrands for colour ordered scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 SYM are dual to those of correlation functions of the energy-momentum multiplet of the theory. The construction can relate amplitudes with different numbers of legs. By graph theory methods the integrand of the four-point function of energy-momentum multiplets has been constructed up to six loops in previous work. In this article we extend this analysis to seven loops and use it to construct the full integrand of the five-point amplitude up to five loops, and in the parity even sector to six loops. All results, both parity even and parity odd, are obtained in a concise local form in dual momentum space and can be displayed efficiently through graphs. We have verified agreement with other local formulae both in terms of supertwistors and scalar momentum integrals as well as BCJ forms where those exist in the literature, i.e. up to three loops. Finally we note that the four-point correlation function can be extracted directly from the four-point amplitude and so this uncovers a direct link from four- to five-point amplitudes.

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arXiv2013

Leading singularities and off-shell conformal integrals

The three-loop four-point function of stress-tensor multiplets in N=4 super Yang-Mills theory contains two so far unknown, off-shell, conformal integrals, in addition to the known, ladder-type integrals. In this paper we evaluate the unknown integrals, thus obtaining the three-loop correlation function analytically. The integrals have the generic structure of rational functions multiplied by (multiple) polylogarithms. We use the idea of leading singularities to obtain the rational coefficients, the symbol - with an appropriate ansatz for its structure - as a means of characterising multiple polylogarithms, and the technique of asymptotic expansion of Feynman integrals to obtain the integrals in certain limits. The limiting behaviour uniquely fixes the symbols of the integrals, which we then lift to find the corresponding polylogarithmic functions. The final formulae are numerically confirmed. The techniques we develop can be applied more generally, and we illustrate this by analytically evaluating one of the integrals contributing to the same four-point function at four loops. This example shows a connection between the leading singularities and the entries of the symbol.

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arXiv2012

Three-loop universal structure constants in N=4 susy Yang-Mills theory

We present a conjecture for the normalisation of the twist two conformal partial waves in a double OPE limit of the four-point function of stress tensor multiplets in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory up to three loops. This contains information about the structure constants in the OPE. Like the twist two anomalous dimensions our result is expressed as a linear combination of harmonic sums whose argument is the spin of the exchanged operators. To arrive at the result we derive asymptotic expansions for the twist two part of two unknown three-loop integrals using the method of expansion by regions, complemented by some intuition gained on the example of the ladder integrals up to three loops.

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arXiv2012

Hidden symmetry of four-point correlation functions and amplitudes in N=4 SYM

We study the four-point correlation function of stress-tensor supermultiplets in N=4 SYM using the method of Lagrangian insertions. We argue that, as a corollary of N=4 superconformal symmetry, the resulting all-loop integrand possesses an unexpected complete symmetry under the exchange of the four external and all the internal (integration) points. This alone allows us to predict the integrand of the three-loop correlation function up to four undetermined constants. Further, exploiting the conjectured amplitude/correlation function duality, we are able to fully determine the three-loop integrand in the planar limit. We perform an independent check of this result by verifying that it is consistent with the operator product expansion, in particular that it correctly reproduces the three-loop anomalous dimension of the Konishi operator. As a byproduct of our study, we also obtain the three-point function of two half-BPS operators and one Konishi operator at three-loop level. We use the same technique to work out a compact form for the four-loop four-point integrand and discuss the generalisation to higher loops.

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arXiv2012

Constructing the correlation function of four stress-tensor multiplets and the four-particle amplitude in N=4 SYM

We present a construction of the integrand of the correlation function of four stress-tensor multiplets in N=4 SYM at weak coupling. It does not rely on Feynman diagrams and makes use of the recently discovered symmetry of the integrand under permutations of external and integration points. This symmetry holds for any gauge group, so it can be used to predict the integrand both in the planar and non-planar sectors. We demonstrate the great efficiency of graph-theoretical tools in the systematic study of the possible permutation symmetric integrands. We formulate a general ansatz for the correlation function as a linear combination of all relevant graph topologies, with arbitrary coefficients. Powerful restrictions on the coefficients come from the analysis of the logarithmic divergences of the correlation function in two singular regimes: Euclidean short-distance and Minkowski light-cone limits. We demonstrate that the planar integrand is completely fixed by the procedure up to six loops and probably beyond. In the non-planar sector, we show the absence of non-planar corrections at three loops and we reduce the freedom at four loops to just four constants. Finally, the correlation function/amplitude duality allows us to show the complete agreement of our results with the four-particle planar amplitude in N=4 SYM.

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arXiv2012

Five-loop Konishi in N=4 SYM

We present a new method for computing the Konishi anomalous dimension in N=4 SYM at weak coupling. It does not rely on the conventional Feynman diagram technique and is not restricted to the planar limit. It is based on the OPE analysis of the four-point correlation function of stress-tensor multiplets, which has been recently constructed up to six loops. The Konishi operator gives the leading contribution to the singlet SU(4) channel of this OPE. Its anomalous dimension is the coefficient of the leading single logarithmic singularity of the logarithm of the correlation function in the double short-distance limit, in which the operator positions coincide pairwise. We regularize the logarithm of the correlation function in this singular limit by a version of dimensional regularization. At any loop level, the resulting singularity is a simple pole whose residue is determined by a finite two-point integral with one loop less. This drastically simplifies the five-loop calculation of the Konishi anomalous dimension by reducing it to a set of known four-loop two-point integrals and two unknown integrals which we evaluate analytically. We obtain an analytic result at five loops in the planar limit and observe perfect agreement with the prediction based on integrability in AdS/CFT.

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arXiv2012

More on the duality correlators/amplitudes

We continue the study of n-point correlation functions of half-BPS protected operators in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, in the limit where the positions of the adjacent operators become light-like separated. We compute the l-loop corrections by making l Lagrangian insertions. We argue that there exists a simple relation between the (n+l)-point tree-level correlator with l Lagrangian insertions and the integrand of the n-particle l-loop MHV scattering amplitude, as obtained by the recent momentum twistor construction of Arkani-Hamed et al. We present several examples of this new duality, at one and two loops.

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arXiv2011

From correlation functions to Wilson loops

We start with an n-point correlation function in a conformal gauge theory. We show that a special limit produces a polygonal Wilson loop with $n$ sides. The limit takes the $n$ points towards the vertices of a null polygonal Wilson loop such that successive distances $x^2_{i,i+1} \to 0$. This produces a fast moving particle that generates a "frame" for the Wilson loop. We explain in detail how the limit is approached, including some subtle effects from the propagation of a fast moving particle in the full interacting theory. We perform perturbative checks by doing explicit computations in N=4 super-Yang-Mills.

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arXiv2011

The super-correlator/super-amplitude duality: Part II

We continue the study of the duality between super-correlators and scattering super-amplitudes in planar N=4 SYM. We provide a number of further examples supporting the conjectured duality relation between these two seemingly different objects. We consider the five- and six-point one-loop NMHV and the six-point tree-level NNMHV amplitudes, obtaining them from the appropriate correlators of strength tensor multiplets in N=4 SYM. In particular, we find exact agreement between the rather non-trivial parity-odd sector of the integrand of the six-point one-loop NMHV amplitude, as obtained from the correlator or from BCFW recursion relations. Together these results lead to the conjecture that the integrands of any N^kMHV amplitude at any loop order in planar N=4 SYM can be described by the correlators of stress-tensor multiplets.

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arXiv2011

The super-correlator/super-amplitude duality: Part I

We extend the recently discovered duality between MHV amplitudes and the light-cone limit of correlation functions of a particular type of local scalar operators to generic non-MHV amplitudes in planar N=4 SYM theory. We consider the natural generalization of the bosonic correlators to super-correlators of stress-tensor multiplets and show, in a number of examples, that their light-cone limit exactly reproduces the square of the matching super-amplitudes. Our correlators are computed at Born level. If all of their points form a light-like polygon, the correlator is dual to the tree-level amplitude. If a subset of points are not on the polygon but are integrated over, they become Lagrangian insertions generating the loop corrections to the correlator. In this case the duality with amplitudes holds at the level of the integrand. We build up the superspace formalism needed to formulate the duality and present the explicit example of the n-point NMHV tree amplitude as the dual of the lowest nilpotent level in the correlator.

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arXiv2006

Transcendentality and Crossing

We discuss possible phase factors for the S-matrix of planar N=4 gauge theory, leading to modifications at four-loop order as compared to an earlier proposal. While these result in a four-loop breakdown of perturbative BMN-scaling, Kotikov-Lipatov transcendentality in the universal scaling function for large-spin twist operators may be preserved. One particularly natural choice, unique up to one constant, modifies the overall contribution of all terms containing odd zeta functions in the earlier proposed scaling function based on a trivial phase. Excitingly, we present evidence that this choice is non-perturbatively related to a recently conjectured crossing-symmetric phase factor for perturbative string theory on AdS_5xS^5 once the constant is fixed to a particular value. Our proposal, if true, might therefore resolve the long-standing AdS/CFT discrepancies between gauge and string theory.

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arXiv2003

On two fermion BMN operators

We show how to determine the lowest order mixing of all scalar with two-fermion two impurity BMN operators in the antisymmetric representation of SO(4). Differentiation on harmonic superspace allows one to derive two-loop anomalous dimensions of gauge invariant operators from this knowledge: the value for the second anomalous correction to the dimension is essentially the square of the two-fermion admixture. The method effectively increases the loop order by one. For low J we find agreement to all orders in N with results obtained upon diagonalisation of the N=4 dilation operator. We give a formula for the generalised Konishi anomaly and display its role in the mixing. For J=2 we resolve the mixing up to order $g^2$ in the singlet representation. The sum of the anomaly and the naive variation of the leading two-fermion admixtures to the singlets is exactly equal to the two-fermion terms in the antisymmetric descendants.

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arXiv2002

On Operator Mixing in N=4 SYM

We resolve the mixing of the scalar operators of naive dimension 4 belonging to the representation 20' of the SU(4) R-symmetry in N=4 SYM. We compute the order g^2 corrections to their anomalous dimensions and show the absence of instantonic contributions thereof. Ratios of the resulting expressions are irrational numbers, even in the large N limit where, however, we observe the expected decoupling of double-trace operators from single-trace ones. We briefly comment on the generalizations of our results required in order to make contact with the double scaling limit of the theory conjectured to be holographically dual to type IIB superstring on a pp-wave.

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arXiv2000

Partial non-renormalisation of the stress-tensor four-point function in N=4 SYM and AdS/CFT

We show that, although the correlator of four stress-tensor multiplets in N=4 SYM is known to have radiative corrections, certain linear combinations of its components are protected from perturbative renormalisation and remain at their free-field values. This result is valid for weak as well as for strong coupling and for any gauge group. Our argument uses Intriligator's insertion formula, and includes a proof that the possible contact term contributions cannot change the form of the amplitudes. Combining this new non-renormalisation theorem with Maldacena's conjecture allows us to make a prediction for the structure of the corresponding correlator in AdS supergravity. This is verified by first considerably simplifying the strong coupling expression obtained by recent supergravity calculations, and then showing that it does indeed exhibit the expected structure.

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