arXiv subjects

Henrik Johansson

Publications and source records attributed to Henrik Johansson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Off-Shell Color-Kinematics Duality for Chern-Simons

Many gauge theories possess a hidden duality between color and kinematics in their on-shell scattering amplitudes. An open problem is to formulate an off-shell realization of the duality, thus manifesting a kinematic algebra. We show that 3D Chern-Simons (CS) theory in Lorenz gauge obeys off-shell color-kinematics duality. This holds both for the gauge field and the BRST ghosts, and the duality is manifest in the Feynman rules. A kinematic algebra can be formulated through a second-order differential operator (Poisson bracket) acting on the off-shell fields, and it corresponds to 3D volume-preserving diffeomorphisms, generated by functions in Lorenz gauge. We consider several admissible double-copy constructions of CS theory with Yang-Mills theory, a higher-derivative (DF)^2 gauge theory, or CS theory itself. To obtain non-vanishing amplitudes, we deform pure CS theory by including the maximum amount of adjoint matter that respects the on-shell duality. This gives a new formulation of an N=4 CS-matter theory, with fields of unusual statistics. We argue that the color-stripped tree amplitudes of this theory are equivalent to those of the Gaiotto-Witten N=4 CS theory with bi-fundamental matter. We further show that the double copy of the N=4 CS theory with itself corresponds to maximally supersymmetric N=8 Dirac-Born-Infeld theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

One-loop matrix elements of effective superstring interactions: $α'$-expanding loop integrands

In the low-energy effective action of string theories, non-abelian gauge interactions and supergravity are augmented by infinite towers of higher-mass-dimension operators. We propose a new method to construct one-loop matrix elements with insertions of operators $D^{2k} F^n$ and $D^{2k} R^n$ in the tree-level effective action of type-I and type-II superstrings. Inspired by ambitwistor string theories, our method is based on forward limits of moduli-space integrals using string tree-level amplitudes with two extra points, expanded in powers of the inverse string tension $α'$. Similar to one-loop ambitwistor computations, intermediate steps feature non-standard linearized Feynman propagators which eventually recombine to conventional quadratic propagators. With linearized propagators the loop integrand of the matrix elements obey one-loop versions of the monodromy and KLT relations. We express a variety of four- and five-point examples in terms of quadratic propagators and formulate a criterion on the underlying genus-one correlation functions that should make this recombination possible at all orders in $α'$. The ultraviolet divergences of the one-loop matrix elements are crosschecked against the non-separating degeneration of genus-one integrals in string amplitudes. Conversely, our results can be used as a constructive method to determine degenerations of elliptic multiple zeta values and modular graph forms at arbitrary weight.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Snowmass White Paper: String Perturbation Theory

The purpose of this White Paper is to review recent progress towards elucidating and evaluating string amplitudes, relating them to quantum field theory amplitudes, applying their predictions to string dualities, exploring their connection with gravitational physics, and deepening our understanding of their mathematical structure. We also present a selection of targets for future research.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Snowmass White Paper: the Double Copy and its Applications

The double copy is, in essence, a map between scattering amplitudes in a broad variety of familiar field and string theories. In addition to the mathematically rich intrinsic structure, it underlies a multitude of active research directions and has a range of interesting applications in quantum, classical and effective field theories, including broad topics such as string theory, particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. This Snowmass white paper provides a brief introduction to the double copy, its applications, current research and future challenges.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Compton Black-Hole Scattering for $s \leq 5/2$

Quantum scattering amplitudes for massive matter have received new attention in connection to classical calculations relevant to gravitational-wave physics. Amplitude methods and insights are now employed for precision computations of observables needed for describing the gravitational dynamics of bound massive objects such as black holes. An important direction is the inclusion of spin effects needed to accurately describe rotating (Kerr) black holes. Higher-spin amplitudes introduced by Arkani-Hamed, Huang and Huang at three points have by now a firm connection to the effective description of Kerr black-hole physics. The corresponding Compton higher-spin amplitudes remain however an elusive open problem. Here we draw from results of the higher-spin literature and show that physical insights can be used to uniquely fix the Compton amplitudes up to spin 5/2, by imposing a constraint on a three-point higher-spin current that is a necessary condition for the existence of an underlying unitary theory. We give the unique effective Lagrangians up to spin $5/2$, and show that they reproduce the previously-known amplitudes. For the multi-graviton amplitudes analogous to the Compton amplitude, no further corrections to our Lagrangians are expected, and hence such amplitudes are uniquely predicted. As an essential tool, we introduce a modified version of the massive spinor-helicity formalism which allows us to conveniently obtain higher-spin states, propagators and compact expressions for the amplitudes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Kinematic Hopf Algebra for BCJ Numerators in Heavy-Mass Effective Field Theory and Yang-Mills Theory

We present a closed formula for all Bern-Carrasco-Johansson (BCJ) numerators describing $D$-dimensional tree-level scattering amplitudes in a heavy-mass effective field theory with two massive particles and an arbitrary number of gluons. The corresponding gravitational amplitudes obtained via the double copy directly enter the computation of black-hole scattering and gravitational-wave emission. Our construction is based on finding a kinematic algebra for the numerators, which we relate to a quasi-shuffle Hopf algebra. The BCJ numerators thus obtained have a compact form and intriguing features: gauge invariance is manifest, locality is respected for massless exchange, and they contain poles corresponding to massive exchange. Counting the number of terms in a BCJ numerator for $n{-}2$ gluons gives the Fubini numbers $\mathsf{F}_{n-3}$, reflecting the underlying quasi-shuffle Hopf algebra structure. Finally, by considering an appropriate factorisation limit, the massive particles decouple, and we thus obtain a kinematic algebra and all tree-level BCJ numerators for $D$-dimensional pure Yang-Mills theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Spinor-helicity formalism for massive and massless amplitudes in five dimensions

Five-dimensional gauge and gravity theories are known to exhibit striking properties. D=5 is the lowest dimension where massive tensor states appear naturally, providing a testing ground for perturbative insights into six-dimensional tensor theories. Five-dimensional supergravities are highly constrained and admit elegant geometric and algebraic formulations, with global symmetries manifest at the Lagrangian level. In this paper, we take a step towards the systematic investigation of amplitudes in five dimensions, and present a five-dimensional version of the spinor-helicity formalism, applicable to massless, massive and supersymmetric states. We give explicit representations for on-shell spinor and polarization variables such that the little-group symmetry and gauge redundancy are manifest. Massive self-dual tensor states are discussed in some detail, as well as all the on-shell supermultiplets that can appear in matter-coupled gauge and supergravity theories. As a byproduct of considering supersymmetry in the presence of central charge, we obtain massless ten-dimensional Majorana-Weyl spinors as products of five-dimensional massive spinors. We present compact expressions for superamplitudes at multiplicity three and four, including several novel superamplitudes that either do not straightforwardly uplift to six dimensions, or have not appeared in the six-dimensional literature. We discuss several examples of five-dimensional double-copy constructions in the context of gravitational theories with massive vectors and tensors, illustrating that the formalism we construct can also be used to considerably streamline the double-copy construction of N=2 Maxwell-Einstein supergravities.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Maximal Super-Yang-Mills at Six Loops via Novel Integrand Bootstrap

We construct the complete (planar and non-planar) integrand for the six-loop four-point amplitude in maximal $D\le10$ super-Yang-Mills. This construction employs new advances that combat the proliferation of diagram contributions and state sums when evaluating multi-loop $D$-dimensional unitarity cuts. Concretely, we introduce two graph-based approaches to evaluating generalized unitarity cuts in $D$ dimensions: 1) recursively from lower-loop cuts, or 2) directly from known higher-loop planar cuts. Neither method relies on explicit state sums or any sewing of tree-level amplitudes. These methods are based on identities that we expect to hold for a broad family of theories, including QCD and Einstein gravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Scattering Massive String Resonances through Field-Theory Methods

We present a new method, exact in $α'$, to explicitly compute string tree-level amplitudes involving one massive state and any number of massless ones. This construction relies on the so-called twisted heterotic string, which admits only gauge multiplets, a gravitational multiplet, and a single massive supermultiplet in its spectrum. In this simplified model, we determine the moduli-space integrand of all amplitudes with one massive state using Berends-Giele currents of the gauge multiplet. These integrands are then straightforwardly mapped to gravitational amplitudes in the twisted heterotic string and to the corresponding massive amplitudes of the conventional type-I and type-II superstrings.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Next-to-MHV Yang-Mills kinematic algebra

Kinematic numerators of Yang-Mills scattering amplitudes possess a rich Lie algebraic structure that suggest the existence of a hidden infinite-dimensional kinematic algebra. Explicitly realizing such a kinematic algebra is a longstanding open problem that only has had partial success for simple helicity sectors. In past work, we introduced a framework using tensor currents and fusion rules to generate BCJ numerators of a special subsector of NMHV amplitudes in Yang-Mills theory. Here we enlarge the scope and explicitly realize a kinematic algebra for all NMHV amplitudes. Master numerators are obtained directly from the algebraic rules and through commutators and kinematic Jacobi identities other numerators can be generated. Inspecting the output of the algebra, we conjecture a closed-form expression for the master BCJ numerator up to any multiplicity. We also introduce a new method, based on group algebra of the permutation group, to solve for the generalized gauge freedom of BCJ numerators. It uses the recently introduced binary BCJ relations to provide a complete set of NMHV kinematic numerators that consist of pure gauge.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

X-ray attenuation of adipose breast tissue: in-vitro and in-vivo measurements using spectral imaging

The development of new x-ray imaging techniques often requires prior knowledge of tissue attenuation, but the sources of such information are sparse. We have measured the attenuation of adipose breast tissue using spectral imaging, in vitro and in vivo. For the in-vitro measurement, fixed samples of adipose breast tissue were imaged on a spectral mammography system, and the energy-dependent x-ray attenuation was measured in terms of equivalent thicknesses of aluminum and poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA). For the in-vivo measurement, a similar procedure was applied on a number of spectral screening mammograms. The results of the two measurements agreed well and were consistent with published attenuation data and with measurements on tissue-equivalent material.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2019

Double copy for massive quantum particles with spin

The duality between color and kinematics was originally observed for purely adjoint massless gauge theories, and later found to hold even after introducing massive fermionic and scalar matter in arbitrary gauge-group representations. Such a generalization was critical for obtaining both loop amplitudes in pure Einstein gravity and realistic gravitational matter from the double copy. In this paper we elaborate on the double copy that yields amplitudes in gravitational theories coupled to flavored massive matter with spin, which is relevant to the problems of black-hole scattering and gravitational waves. Our construction benefits from making the little group explicit for the massive particles, as shown on lower-point examples. For concreteness, we focus on the double copy of QCD with massive quarks, for which we work out the gravitational Lagrangian up to quartic scalar and vector-scalar couplings. We find new gauge-invariant double-copy formulae for tree-level amplitudes with two distinct-flavor pairs of matter and any number of gravitons. These are similar to, but inherently different from, the well-known Kawai-Lewellen-Tye formulae, since the latter only hold for the double copy of purely adjoint gauge theories.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

The Duality Between Color and Kinematics and its Applications

This review describes the duality between color and kinematics and its applications, with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of the perturbative structure of gauge and gravity theories. We emphasize, in particular, applications to loop-level calculations, the broad web of theories linked by the duality and the associated double-copy structure, and the issue of extending the duality and double copy beyond scattering amplitudes. The review is aimed at doctoral students and junior researchers both inside and outside the field of amplitudes and is accompanied by various exercises.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

On the kinematic algebra for BCJ numerators beyond the MHV sector

The duality between color and kinematics present in scattering amplitudes of Yang-Mills theory strongly suggest the existence of a hidden kinematic Lie algebra that controls the gauge theory. While associated BCJ numerators are known on closed forms to any multiplicity at tree level, the kinematic algebra has only been partially explored for the simplest of four-dimensional amplitudes: up to the MHV sector. In this paper we introduce a framework that allows us to characterize the algebra beyond the MHV sector. This allows us to both constrain some of the ambiguities of the kinematic algebra, and better control the generalized gauge freedom that is associated with the BCJ numerators. Specifically, in this paper, we work in dimension-agnostic notation and determine the kinematic algebra valid up to certain ${\cal O}\big((\varepsilon_i \cdot \varepsilon_j)^2\big)$ terms that in four dimensions compute the next-to-MHV sector involving two scalars. The kinematic algebra in this sector is simple, given that we introduce tensor currents that generalize standard Yang-Mills vector currents. These tensor currents controls the generalized gauge freedom, allowing us to generate multiple different versions of BCJ numerators from the same kinematic algebra. The framework should generalize to other sectors in Yang-Mills theory.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

The Full-Color Two-Loop Four-Gluon Amplitude in $\mathcal{N} = 2$ Super-QCD

We present the fully integrated form of the two-loop four-gluon amplitude in $\mathcal{N} = 2$ 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 $\mathcal{N} = 2$ superconformal theory, where $N_f = 2N_c$ , we obtain remarkably simple amplitudes that have an analytic structure close to that of $\mathcal{N} = 4$ super-Yang-Mills theory, except that now certain lower-weight terms appear. We comment on the corresponding results for other gauge groups.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Non-Abelian gauged supergravities as double copies

Scattering amplitudes have the potential to provide new insights to the study of supergravity theories with gauged R-symmetry and Minkowski vacua. Such gaugings break supersymmetry spontaneously, either partly or completely. In this paper, we develop a framework for double-copy constructions of Abelian and non-Abelian gaugings of N=8 supergravity with these properties. They are generally obtained as the double copy of a spontaneously-broken (possibly supersymmeric) gauge theory and a theory with explicitly-broken supersymmetry. We first identify purely-adjoint deformations of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory that preserve the duality between color and kinematics. A combination of Higgsing and orbifolding yields the needed duality-satisfying gauge-theory factors with multiple matter representations. We present three explicit examples. Two are Cremmer-Scherk-Schwarz gaugings with unbroken N=6,4 supersymmetry and U(1) gauge group. The third has unbroken N=4 supersymmetry and SU(2)xU(1) gauge group. We also discuss examples in which the double-copy method gives theories with explicitly-broken supersymmetry.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Unraveling conformal gravity amplitudes

Conformal supergravity amplitudes are obtained from the double-copy construction using gauge-theory amplitudes, and compared to direct calculations starting from conformal supergravity Lagrangians. We consider several different theories: minimal ${\cal N}=4$ conformal supergravity, non-minimal ${\cal N}=4$ Berkovits-Witten conformal supergravity, mass-deformed versions of these theories, as well as supersymmetry truncations thereof. Coupling the theories to a Yang-Mills sector is also considered. For all cases we give the gravity Lagrangians that the double copy implicitly generates. The two main results are: we determine a Lagrangian for the non-minimal Berkovits-Witten theory, and we uncover the double-copy prescription for the minimal ${\cal N}=4$ conformal supergravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Ultraviolet Properties of N = 8 Supergravity at Five Loops

We use the recently developed generalized double-copy construction to obtain an improved representation of the five-loop four-point integrand of $N = 8$ supergravity whose leading ultraviolet behavior we analyze using state of the art loop-integral expansion and reduction methods. We find that the five-loop critical dimension where ultraviolet divergences first occur is $D_c=24/5$, corresponding to a $D^8 R^4$ counterterm. This ultraviolet behavior stands in contrast to the cases of four-dimensional $N = 4$ supergravity at three loops and $N = 5$ supergravity at four loops whose improved ultraviolet behavior demonstrates enhanced cancellations beyond implications from standard-symmetry considerations. We express this $D_c=24/5$ divergence in terms of two relatively simple positive-definite integrals reminiscent of vacuum integrals, excluding any additional ultraviolet cancellations at this loop-order. We note nontrivial relations between the integrals describing this leading ultraviolet behavior and integrals describing lower-loop behavior. This observation suggests not only a path towards greatly simplifying future calculations at higher loops, but may even allow us to directly investigate ultraviolet behavior in terms of simplified integrals, avoiding the construction of complete integrands.

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