arXiv subjects

Stephan Stieberger

Publications and source records attributed to Stephan Stieberger.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Extracting Bigravity from String Theory

The origin of the graviton from string theory is well understood: it corresponds to a massless state in closed string spectra, whose low-energy effective action, as extracted from string scattering amplitudes, is that of Einstein-Hilbert. In this work, we explore the possibility of such a string-theoretic emergence of ghost-free bimetric theory, a recently proposed theory that involves two dynamical metrics, that around particular backgrounds propagates the graviton and a massive spin-2 field, which has been argued to be a viable dark matter candidate. By choosing to identify the latter with a massive spin-2 state of open string spectra, we compute tree-level three-point string scattering amplitudes that describe interactions of the massive spin-2 with itself and with the graviton. With the mass of the external legs depending on the string scale, we discover that extracting the corresponding low-energy effective actions in four spacetime dimensions is a subtle but consistent process and proceed to appropriately compare them with bimetric theory. Our findings consist in establishing that string and bimetric theory provide to lowest order the same set of two-derivative terms describing the interactions of the massive spin-2 with itself and with the graviton, albeit up to numerical coefficient discrepancies, a fact that we analyze and interpret. We conclude with a mention of future investigations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

Einstein Yang-Mills Amplitudes from Intersections of Twisted Forms

We present a geometric derivation of all-multiplicity (single-trace) tree-level Einstein Yang-Mills (EYM) amplitudes ${\cal A}(n;r)$ involving $n$ gluons and $r$ gravitons by a bilinear of two twisted differential forms on the moduli space of Riemann spheres with $m\!:=\!n\!+\!r$ punctures. The differential forms are gained by studying the underlying superstring disk amplitude and proposing an embedding of the disk onto the sphere. This map can be interpreted as a geometrical map from the open superstring to a heterotic or ambitwistor string structure. Then, the twisted intersection number of the two $m$-forms, which is obtained by integrating over the moduli space of Riemann sphere with $m$ punctures, reproduces in the infinite inverse string tension limit $α'\!\rightarrow\! \infty$ the corresponding CHY formula of the EYM amplitude. To bolster our findings we study the disk amplitude of open and closed strings using the Grassmann description of the underlying superstring amplitude, map it to a closed string amplitude and consider the $α'\!\rightarrow\! \infty$ limit. Finally, we present an all-multiplicity decomposition formula of any EYM amplitude ${\cal A}(n;r)$ as linear combination over $(m\!-\!3)!$ pure $m$ gluon subamplitudes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Conformal Blocks from Celestial Gluon Amplitudes 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 $Δ=m+i λ$, with integer $m\geq 1$ and various, but always integer spin, in all group representations contained in the product of two adjoint representations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2021

Conformal Blocks from Celestial Gluon Amplitudes

In celestial conformal field theory, gluons are represented by primary fields with dimensions $Δ=1+iλ$, $λ\in\mathbb{R}$ and spin $J=\pm 1$, in the adjoint representation of the gauge group. All two- and three-point correlation functions of these fields are zero as a consequence of four-dimensional kinematic constraints. Four-point correlation functions contain delta-function singularities enforcing planarity of four-particle scattering events. We relax these constraints by taking a shadow transform of one field and perform conformal block decomposition of the corresponding correlators. We compute the conformal block coefficients. When decomposed in channels that are "compatible" in two and four dimensions, such four-point correlators contain conformal blocks of primary fields with dimensions $Δ=2+M+iλ$, where $M\ge 0$ is an integer, with integer spin $J=-M,-M+2,\dots,M-2,M$. They appear in all gauge group representations obtained from a tensor product of two adjoint representations. When decomposed in incompatible channels, they also contain primary fields with continuous complex spin, but with positive integer dimensions.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

Extended Super BMS Algebra of Celestial CFT

We study two-dimensional celestial conformal field theory describing four-dimensional ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity/Yang-Mills systems and show that the underlying symmetry is a supersymmetric generalization of BMS symmetry. We construct fermionic conformal primary wave functions and show how they are related via supersymmetry to their bosonic partners. We use soft and collinear theorems of supersymmetric Einstein-Yang-Mills theory to derive the OPEs of the operators associated to massless particles. The bosonic and fermionic soft theorems are shown to form a sequence under supersymmetric Ward identities. In analogy with the energy momentum tensor, the supercurrents are shadow transforms of soft gravitino operators and generate an infinite-dimensional supersymmetry algebra. The algebra of $\mathfrak{sbms}_4$ generators agrees with the expectations based on earlier work on the asymptotic symmetry group of supergravity. We also show that the supertranslation operator can be written as a product of holomorphic and anti-holomorphic supercurrents.

hep-th↗

arXiv2020

On Sugawara construction on Celestial Sphere

Conformally soft gluons are conserved currents of the Celestial Conformal Field Theory (CCFT) and generate a Kac-Moody algebra. We study celestial amplitudes of Yang-Mills theory, which are Mellin transforms of gluon amplitudes and take the double soft limit of a pair of gluons. In this manner we construct the Sugawara energy-momentum tensor of the CCFT. We verify that conformally soft gauge bosons are Virasoro primaries of the CCFT under the Sugawara energy-momentum tensor. The Sugawara tensor though does not generate the correct conformal transformations for hard states. In Einstein-Yang- Mills (EYM) theory, we consider an alternative construction of the energy-momentum tensor, similar to the double copy construction which relates gauge theory amplitudes with gravity ones. This energy momentum tensor has the correct properties to generate conformal transformations for both soft and hard states. We extend this construction to supertranslations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Extended BMS Algebra of Celestial CFT

We elaborate on the proposal of flat holography in which four-dimensional physics is encoded in two-dimensional celestial conformal field theory (CCFT). The symmetry underlying CCFT is the extended BMS symmetry of (asymptotically) flat spacetime. We use soft and collinear theorems of Einstein-Yang-Mills theory to derive the OPEs of BMS field operators generating superrotations and supertranslations. The energy-momentum tensor, given by a shadow transform of a soft graviton operator, implements superrotations in the Virasoro subalgebra of $\mathfrak{bms_4}$. Supertranslations can be obtained from a single translation generator along the light-cone direction by commuting it with the energy-momentum tensor. This operator also originates from a soft graviton and generates a flow of conformal dimensions. All supertranslations can be assembled into a single primary conformal field operator on celestial sphere.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Symmetries of Celestial Amplitudes

Celestial amplitudes provide holographic imprints of four-dimensional scattering processes in terms of conformal correlation functions on a two-dimensional sphere describing Minkowski space at null infinity. We construct the generators of Poincare and conformal groups in the celestial representation and discuss how these symmetries are manifest in the amplitudes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

Strings on Celestial Sphere

We transform superstring scattering amplitudes into the correlation functions of primary conformal fields on two-dimensional celestial sphere. The points on celestial sphere are associated to the asymptotic directions of (light-like) momenta of external particles, with the Lorentz group realized as the SL(2,C) conformal symmetry of the sphere. The energies are dualized through Mellin transforms into the parameters that determine dimensions of the primaries. We focus on four-point amplitudes involving gauge bosons and gravitons in type I open superstring theory and in closed heterotic superstring theory at the tree-level.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

New Relations for Einstein-Yang-Mills Amplitudes

We obtain new relations between Einstein-Yang-Mills (EYM) amplitudes involving N gauge bosons plus a single graviton and pure Yang-Mills amplitudes involving N gauge bosons plus one additional vector boson inserted in a way typical for a gauge boson of a "spectator" group commuting with the group associated to original N gauge bosons. We show that such EYM amplitudes satisfy U(1) decoupling relations similar to Kleiss-Kuijf relations for Yang-Mills amplitudes. We consider a D-brane embedding of EYM amplitudes in the framework of disk amplitudes involving open and closed strings. A new set of monodromy relations is derived for mixed open-closed amplitudes with one closed string inserted on the disk world-sheet and a number of open strings at the boundary. These relations allow expressing the latter in terms of pure open string amplitudes and, in the field-theory limit, they yield the U(1) decoupling relations for EYM amplitudes.

hep-th↗

arXiv2016

A Feynman Integral and its Recurrences and Associators

We determine closed and compact expressions for the epsilon-expansion of certain Gaussian hypergeometric functions expanded around half-integer values by explicitly solving for their recurrence relations. This epsilon-expansion is identified with the normalized solution of the underlying Fuchs system of four regular singular points. We compute its regularized zeta series (giving rise to two independent associators) whose ratio gives the epsilon-expansion at a specific value. Furthermore, we use the well known one-loop massive bubble integral as an example to demonstrate how to obtain all-order epsilon-expansions for Feynman integrals and how to construct representations for Feynman integrals in terms of generalized hypergeometric functions. We use the method of differential equations in combination with the recently established general solution for recurrence relations with non-commutative coefficients.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Differential Equations, Associators, and Recurrences for Amplitudes

We provide new methods to straightforwardly obtain compact and analytic expressions for epsilon-expansions of functions appearing in both field and string theory amplitudes. An algebraic method is presented to explicitly solve for recurrence relations connecting different epsilon-orders of a power series solution in epsilon of a differential equation. This strategy generalizes the usual iteration by Picard's method. Our tools are demonstrated for generalized hypergeometric functions. Furthermore, we match the epsilon-expansion of specific generalized hypergeometric functions with the underlying Drinfeld associator with proper Lie algebra and monodromy representations. We also apply our tools for computing epsilon-expansions for solutions to generic first-order Fuchsian equations (Schlesinger system). Finally, we set up our methods to systematically get compact and explicit alpha'-expansions of tree-level superstring amplitudes to any order in alpha'.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Disk Scattering of Open and Closed Strings (I)

At the tree level, the scattering processes involving open and closed strings are described by a disk world-sheet with vertex operator insertions at the boundary and in the bulk. Such amplitudes can be decomposed as certain linear combinations of pure open string amplitudes. While previous relations have been established on the double cover (complex sphere) in this letter we derive them on the disk (upper complex half plane) allowing for different momenta of the left- and right-movers of the closed string. Formally, the computation of disk amplitudes involving both open and closed strings is reduced to considering the monodromies on the underlying string world-sheet.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Subleading Terms in the Collinear Limit of Yang-Mills Amplitudes

For two massless particles i and j, the collinear limit is a special kinematic configuration in which the particles propagate with parallel four-momentum vectors, with the total momentum P distributed as p_i=xP and p_j=(1-x)P, so that s_{ij}=(p_i+p_j)^2=P^2=0. In Yang-Mills theory, if i and j are among N gauge bosons participating in a scattering process, it is well known that the partial amplitudes associated to the (single trace) group factors with adjacent i and j are singular in the collinear limit and factorize at the leading order into N-1-particle amplitudes times the universal, x-dependent Altarelli-Parisi factors. We give a precise definition of the collinear limit and show that at the tree level, the subleading, non-singular terms are related to the amplitudes with a single graviton inserted instead of two collinear gauge bosons. To that end, we argue that in one-graviton Einstein-Yang-Mills amplitudes, the graviton with momentum P can be replaced by a pair of collinear gauge bosons carrying arbitrary momentum fractions xP and (1-x)P.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Graviton Amplitudes from Collinear Limits of Gauge Amplitudes

We express all tree-level graviton amplitudes in Einstein's gravity as the collinear limits of a linear combination of pure Yang-Mills amplitudes in which each graviton is represented by two gauge bosons, each of them carrying exactly one half of graviton's momentum and helicity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Graviton as a Pair of Collinear Gauge Bosons

We show that the mixed gravitational/gauge superstring amplitudes describing decays of massless closed strings - gravitons or dilatons - into a number of gauge bosons, can be written at the tree (disk) level as linear combinations of pure open string amplitudes in which the graviton (or dilaton) is replaced by a pair of collinear gauge bosons. Each of the constituent gauge bosons carry exactly one half of the original closed string momentum, while their +/- 1 helicities add up to +/- 2 for the graviton or to 0 for the dilaton.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

All order alpha'-expansion of superstring trees from the Drinfeld associator

We derive a recursive formula for the alpha'-expansion of superstring tree amplitudes involving any number N of massless open string states. String corrections to Yang-Mills field theory are shown to enter through the Drinfeld associator, a generating series for multiple zeta values. Our results apply for any number of spacetime dimensions or supersymmetries and chosen helicity configurations.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Closed String Amplitudes as Single-Valued Open String Amplitudes

We show that the single trace heterotic N-point tree-level gauge amplitude A_HET can be obtained from the corresponding type I amplitude A_I by the single-valued (sv) projection: A_HET=sv(A_I). This projection maps multiple zeta values to single-valued multiple zeta values. The latter represent a subclass of multiple zeta values originating from single-valued multiple polylogarithms at unity. Similar relations between open and closed string amplitudes or amplitudes of different string vacua can be established. As a consequence the alpha'-expansion of a closed string amplitude is dictated by that of the corresponding open string amplitude. The combination of single-valued projections, Kawai-Lewellen-Tye relations and Mellin correspondence reveal a unity of all tree-level open and closed superstring amplitudes together with the maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills and supergravity theories.

hep-th↗