arXiv subjects

Rutger Boels

Publications and source records attributed to Rutger Boels.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2016

Towards a four-loop form factor

The four-loop, two-point form factor contains the first non-planar correction to the lightlike cusp anomalous dimension. This anomalous dimension is a universal function which appears in many applications. Its planar part in N = 4 SYM is known, in principle, exactly from AdS/CFT and integrability while its non-planar part has been conjectured to vanish. The integrand of the form factor of the stress-tensor multiplet in N = 4 SYM including the non-planar part was obtained in previous work. We parametrise the difficulty of integrating this integrand. We have obtained a basis of master integrals for all integrals in the four-loop, two-point class in two ways. First, we computed an IBP reduction of the integrand of the N = 4 form factor using massive computer algebra (Reduze). Second, we computed a list of master integrals based on methods of the Mint package, suitably extended using Macaulay2 / Singular. The master integrals obtained in both ways are consistent with some minor exceptions. The second method indicates that the master integrals apply beyond N = 4 SYM, in particular to QCD. The numerical integration of several of the master integrals will be reported and remaining obstacles will be outlined

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Master integrals for the four-loop Sudakov form factor

The light-like cusp anomalous dimension is a universal function in the analysis of infrared divergences. In maximally ($\mathcal{N}=4$) supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory (SYM) in the planar limit, it is known, in principle, to all loop orders. The non-planar corrections are not known in any theory, with the first appearing at the four-loop order. The simplest quantity which contains this correction is the four-loop two-point form factor of the stress tensor multiplet. This form factor was largely obtained in integrand form in a previous work for $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM, up to a free parameter. In this work, a reduction of the appearing integrals obtained by solving integration-by-parts (IBP) identities using a modified version of Reduze is reported. The form factor is shown to be independent of the remaining parameter at integrand level due to an intricate pattern of cancellations after IBP reduction. Moreover, two of the integral topologies vanish after reduction. The appearing master integrals are cross-checked using independent algebraic-geometry techniques explored in the Mint package. The latter results provide the basis of master integrals applicable to generic form factors, including those in Quantum Chromodynamics. Discrepancies between explicitly solving the IBP relations and the MINT approach are highlighted. Remaining bottlenecks to completing the computation of the four-loop non-planar cusp anomalous dimension in $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM and beyond are identified.

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arXiv2010

MHV, CSW and BCFW: field theory structures in string theory amplitudes

Motivated by recent progress in calculating field theory amplitudes, we study applications of the basic ideas in these developments to the calculation of amplitudes in string theory. We consider in particular both non-Abelian and Abelian open superstring disk amplitudes in a flat space background, focusing mainly on the four-dimensional case. The basic field theory ideas under consideration split into three separate categories. In the first, we argue that the calculation of alpha'-corrections to MHV open string disk amplitudes reduces to the determination of certain classes of polynomials. This line of reasoning is then used to determine the alpha'^3-correction to the MHV amplitude for all multiplicities. A second line of attack concerns the existence of an analog of CSW rules derived from the Abelian Dirac-Born-Infeld action in four dimensions. We show explicitly that the CSW-like perturbation series of this action is surprisingly trivial: only helicity conserving amplitudes are non-zero. Last but not least, we initiate the study of BCFW on-shell recursion relations in string theory. These should appear very naturally as the UV properties of the string theory are excellent. We show that all open four-point string amplitudes in a flat background at the disk level obey BCFW recursion relations. Based on the naturalness of the proof and some explicit results for the five-point gluon amplitude, it is expected that this pattern persists for all higher point amplitudes and for the closed string.

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arXiv2008

Deriving CSW rules for massive scalar legs and pure Yang-Mills loops

This article provides two complementary detailed derivations of Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten-style Feynman rules for Yang-Mills gauge theory coupled to a massive coloured scalar as presented in earlier work. These proceed through a direct canonical transformation method on space-time and through a gauge transformation in an action constructed on twistor space. It is shown explicitly that the field transformations are identical in both cases. Some simple tree-level examples of our rules are given and we comment on the application of them to the calculation of the rational part of one-loop pure glue amplitudes. A possible direct quantum completion of pure glue CSW rules based on dimensional regularisation motivated by these results is sketched. Finally, it is shown how to derive CSW rules for effective Higgs-gluon and Higgs-matter couplings proposed in the literature directly from the action. This derivation yields additional towers of vertices which generate a subset of the contributions to effective multi-Higgs scattering amplitudes.

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arXiv2008

CSW rules for massive matter legs and glue loops

Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten-type Feynman rules for massive matter scalar legs and pure glue loops are presented, obtained by deriving them directly from the space-time action. We comment on the derivation and some sample applications, in particular to calculating one loop effects in pure Yang-Mills theory. Furthermore, we derive CSW rules for effective Higgs-gluon couplings studied in the literature. In addition, it is shown how twistor techniques for deriving canonical field transformations explored for massless scalars extend to massless fermions.

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arXiv2008

CSW rules for a massive scalar

We derive the analog of the Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten (CSW) diagrammatic Feynman rules for four dimensional Yang-Mills gauge theory coupled to a massive colored scalar. The mass term is shown to give rise to a new tower of vertices in addition to the CSW vertices for massless scalars in non-supersymmetric theories. The rules are derived directly from an action, once through a canonical transformation within light-cone Yang-Mills and once by the construction of a twistor action. The rules are tested against known results in several examples and are used to simplify the proof of on-shell recursion relations for amplitudes with massive scalars.

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arXiv2007

Recent developments for multi-leg QCD amplitudes with massive particles

We review the extension of modern techniques for the calculation of helicity amplitudes in QCD to massive particles. The focus is on the use of supersymmetric Ward identites that relate amplitudes with massive quarks to those with massive scalars, the application of on-shell recursion relations to amplitudes with massive quarks and an extension of the CSW rules to massive scalars.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

A quantization of twistor Yang-Mills theory through the background field method

Four dimensional Yang-Mills theory formulated through an action on twistor space has a larger gauge symmetry than the usual formulation, which in previous work was shown to allow a simple gauge transformation between text-book perturbation theory and the Cachazo-Svrcek-Witten rules. In this paper we study non-supersymmetric twistor Yang-Mills theory at loop level using the background field method. For an appropriate partial quantum field gauge choice it is shown the calculation of the effective action is equivalent to (the twistor lift of) the calculation in ordinary Yang-Mills theory in the Chalmers and Siegel formulation to all orders in perturbation theory. A direct consequence is that the twistor version of Yang-Mills theory is just as renormalizable in this particular gauge. As applications an explicit calculation of the Yang-Mills beta function and some preliminary investigations into using the formalism to calculate S-matrix elements at loop level are presented. In principle the technique described in this paper generates consistent quantum completions of the CSW rules. However, by inherent limitations of the partial gauge choice employed here, this offers in its current form mainly simplifications for tree level forestry. The method is expected to be applicable to a wide class of four dimensional gauge theories.

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arXiv2007

From Twistor Actions to MHV Diagrams

We show that MHV diagrams are the Feynman diagrams of certain twistor actions for gauge theories in an axial gauge. The gauge symmetry of the twistor action is larger than that on space-time and this allows us to fix a gauge that makes the MHV formalism manifest but which is inaccessible from space-time. The framework is extended to describe matter fields: as an illustration we explicitly construct twistor actions for an adjoint scalar with arbitrary polynomial potential and a fermion in the fundamental representation and show how this leads to additional towers of MHV vertices in the MHV diagram formalism.

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arXiv2006

Supersymmetric Gauge Theories in Twistor Space

We construct a twistor space action for N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and show that it is equivalent to its four dimensional spacetime counterpart at the level of perturbation theory. We compare our partition function to the original twistor-string proposal, showing that although our theory is closely related to string theory, it is free from conformal supergravity. We also provide twistor actions for gauge theories with N<4 supersymmetry, and show how matter multiplets may be coupled to the gauge sector.

hep-th↗

arXiv2005

Phase transitions in q-deformed 2d Yang-Mills theory and topological strings

We analyze large N phase transitions for U(N) q-deformed two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on the sphere. We determine the phase diagram of the model and we show that, for small values of the deformation parameter, the theory exhibits a phase transition which is smoothly connected to the Douglas-Kazakov phase transition. For large values of the deformation parameter the phase transition is absent. By explicitly computing the one-instanton suppression factor in the weakly coupled phase, we also show that the transition is triggered by instanton effects. Finally, we present the solution of the model in the strongly coupled phase. Our analysis suggests that, on certain backgrounds, nonperturbative topological string theory has new phase transitions at small radius. From the point of view of gauge theory, it suggests a mechanism to smooth out large N phase transitions.

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arXiv2005

Classical Spin Chains and Exact Three-dimensional Superpotentials

We study exact effective superpotentials of four-dimensional {\cal N} = 2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge group U(N) and various amounts of fundamental matter on R^3 x S^1, broken to {\cal N} = 1 by turning on a classical superpotential for the adjoint scalar. On general grounds these superpotentials can easily be constructed once we identify a suitable set of coordinates on the moduli space of the gauge theory. These coordinates have been conjectured to be the phase space variables of the classical integrable system which underlies the {\cal N} = 2 gauge theory. For the gauge theory under study these integrable systems are degenerations of the classical, inhomogeneous, periodic SL(2,C) spin chain. Ambiguities in the degeneration provide multiple coordinate patches on the gauge theory moduli space. By studying the vacua of the superpotentials in several examples we find that the spin chain provides coordinate patches that parametrize holomorphically the part of the gauge theory moduli space which is connected to the electric (as opposed to magnetic or baryonic) Higgs and Coulomb branch vacua. The baryonic branch root is on the edge of some coordinate patches. As a product of our analysis all maximally confining (non-baryonic) Seiberg-Witten curve factorizations for N_f \leq N_c are obtained, explicit up to one constraint for equal mass flavors and up to two constraints for unequal mass flavors. Gauge theory addition and multiplication maps are shown to have a natural counterpart in this construction. Furthermore it is shown how to integrate in the meson fields in this formulation in order to obtain three and four dimensional Affleck-Dine-Seiberg-like superpotentials.

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arXiv2003

Nonperturbative Superpotentials and Compactification to Three Dimensions

We consider four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge group U(N) on R^3 x S^1, in the presence of a classical superpotential. The low-energy quantum superpotential is obtained by simply replacing the adjoint scalar superfield in the classical superpotential by the Lax matrix of the integrable system that underlies the 4d field theory. We verify in a number of examples that the vacuum structure obtained in this way matches precisely that in 4d, although the degrees of freedom that appear are quite distinct. Several features of 4d field theories, such as the possibility of lifting vacua from U(N) to U(tN), become particularly simple in this framework. It turns out that supersymmetric vacua give rise to a reduction of the integrable system which contains information about the field theory but also about the Dijkgraaf-Vafa matrix model. The relation between the matrix model and the quantum superpotential on R^3 x S^1 appears to involve a novel kind of mirror symmetry.

hep-th↗

arXiv2003

Factorization of Seiberg-Witten Curves and Compactification to Three Dimensions

We continue our study of nonperturbative superpotentials of four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with gauge group U(N) on R^3 x S^1, broken to N=1 due to a classical superpotential. In a previous paper, hep-th/0304061, we discussed how the low-energy quantum superpotential can be obtained by substituting the Lax matrix of the underlying integrable system directly into the classical superpotential. In this paper we prove algebraically that this recipe yields the correct factorization of the Seiberg-Witten curves, which is an important check of the conjecture. We will also give an independent proof using the algebraic-geometrical interpretation of the underlying integrable system.

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