arXiv subjects

Tomasz Lukowski

Publications and source records attributed to Tomasz Lukowski.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Amplituhedra, and Beyond

This review is a primer on recently established geometric methods for observables in quantum field theories. The main emphasis is on amplituhedra, i.e. geometries encoding scattering amplitudes for a variety of theories. These pertain to a broader family of geometries called positive geometries, whose basics we review. We also describe other members of this family that are associated with different physical quantities and briefly consider the most recent developments related to positive geometries. Finally, we discuss the main open problems in the field. This is a Topical Review invited by Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical.

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arXiv2020

From Momentum Amplituhedron Boundaries to Amplitude Singularities and Back

The momentum amplituhedron is a positive geometry encoding tree-level scattering amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills directly in spinor-helicity space. In this paper we classify all boundaries of the momentum amplituhedron $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}$ and explain how these boundaries are related to the expected factorization channels, and soft and collinear limits of tree amplitudes. Conversely, all physical singularities of tree amplitudes are encoded in this boundary stratification. Finally, we find that the momentum amplituhedron $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}$ has Euler characteristic equal to one, which provides a first step towards proving that it is homeomorphic to a ball.

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arXiv2020

Boundaries of the Amplituhedron with amplituhedronBoundaries

Positive geometries provide a modern approach for computing scattering amplitudes in a variety of physical models. In order to facilitate the exploration of these new geometric methods, we introduce a Mathematica package called ``amplituhedronBoundaries'' for calculating the boundary structures of three positive geometries: the amplituhedron $\mathcal{A}_{n,k}^{(m)}$, the momentum amplituhedron $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}^{(m)}$ and the hypersimplex $Δ_{k,n}$. The first two geometries are relevant for scattering amplitudes in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ SYM, while the last one is a well-studied polytope appearing in many contexts in mathematics, and is closely related to $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}^{(2)}$. The package includes an array of useful tools for the study of these positive geometries, including their boundary stratifications, drawing their boundary posets, and additional tools for manipulating combinatorial structures useful for positive Grassmannians.

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arXiv2019

Cluster Adjacency for m=2 Yangian Invariants

We classify the rational Yangian invariants of the $m=2$ toy model of $\mathcal{N}=4$ Yang-Mills theory in terms of generalised triangles inside the amplituhedron $\mathcal{A}_{n,k}^{(2)}$. We enumerate and provide an explicit formula for all invariants for any number of particles $n$ and any helicity degree $k$. Each invariant manifestly satisfies cluster adjacency with respect to the $Gr(2,n)$ cluster algebra.

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arXiv2019

On the Boundaries of the m=2 Amplituhedron

Amplituhedra $\mathcal{A}_{n,k}^{(m)}$ are geometric objects of great interest in modern mathematics and physics: for mathematicians they are combinatorially rich generalizations of polygons and polytopes, based on the notion of positivity; for physicists, the amplituhedron $\mathcal{A}^{(4)}_{n,k}$ encodes the scattering amplitudes of the planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory. In this paper we study the structure of boundaries for the amplituhedron $\mathcal{A}_{n,k}^{(2)}$. We classify all boundaries of all dimensions and provide their graphical enumeration. We find that the boundary poset for the amplituhedron is Eulerian and show that the Euler characteristic of the amplituhedron equals one. This provides an initial step towards proving that the amplituhedron for $m=2$ is homeomorphic to a closed ball.

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arXiv2019

The Momentum Amplituhedron

In this paper we define a new object, the momentum amplituhedron, which is the long sought-after positive geometry for tree-level scattering amplitudes in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory in spinor helicity space. Inspired by the construction of the ordinary amplituhedron, we introduce bosonized spinor helicity variables to represent our external kinematical data, and restrict them to a particular positive region. The momentum amplituhedron $\mathcal{M}_{n,k}$ is then the image of the positive Grassmannian via a map determined by such kinematics. The scattering amplitudes are extracted from the canonical form with logarithmic singularities on the boundaries of this geometry.

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arXiv2018

Amplituhedron meets Jeffrey-Kirwan Residue

The tree amplituhedra $\mathcal{A}_{n,k}^{(m)}$ are mathematical objects generalising the notion of polytopes into the Grassmannian. Proposed for $m=4$ as a geometric construction encoding tree-level scattering amplitudes in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory, they are mathematically interesting for any $m$. In this paper we strengthen the relation between scattering amplitudes and geometry by linking the amplituhedron to the Jeffrey-Kirwan residue, a powerful concept in symplectic and algebraic geometry. We focus on a particular class of amplituhedra in any dimension, namely cyclic polytopes, and their even-dimensional conjugates. We show how the Jeffrey-Kirwan residue prescription allows to extract the correct amplituhedron volume functions in all these cases. Notably, this also naturally exposes the rich combinatorial and geometric structures of amplituhedra, such as their regular triangulations.

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arXiv2017

Perturbative Four-Point Functions from the Analytic Conformal Bootstrap

We apply the analytic conformal bootstrap method to study weakly coupled conformal gauge theories in four dimensions. We employ twist conformal blocks to find the most general form of the one-loop four-point correlation function of identical scalar operators, without any reference to Feynman calculations. The method relies only on symmetries of the model. In particular, it does not require introducing any regularisation and it is free from the redundancies usually associated with the Feynman approach. By supplementing the general solution with known data for a small number of operators, we recover explicit forms of one-loop correlation functions of four Konishi operators as well as of four half-BPS operators $\mathcal{O}_{20'}$ in $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills.

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arXiv2017

Expanding the Bethe/Gauge Dictionary

We expand the Bethe/Gauge dictionary between the XXX Heisenberg spin chain and 2d N = (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories to include aspects of the algebraic Bethe ansatz. We construct the wave functions of off-shell Bethe states as orbifold defects in the A-twisted supersymmetric gauge theory and study their correlation functions. We also present an alternative description of off-shell Bethe states as boundary conditions in an effective N = 4 supersymmetric quantum mechanics. Finally, we interpret spin chain R-matrices as correlation functions of Janus interfaces for mass parameters in the supersymmetric quantum mechanics.

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arXiv2017

Yangian Symmetry for the Tree Amplituhedron

Tree-level scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills are known to be Yangian-invariant. It has been shown that integrability allows to obtain a general, explicit method to find such invariants. The uplifting of this result to the amplituhedron construction has been an important open problem. In this paper, with the help of methods proper to integrable theories, we successfully fill this gap and clarify the meaning of Yangian invariance for the tree-level amplituhedron. In particular, we construct amplituhedron volume forms from an underlying spin chain. As a by-product of this construction, we also propose a novel on-shell diagrammatics for the amplituhedron.

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arXiv2016

Tree-level scattering amplitudes from the amplituhedron

A central problem in quantum field theory is the computation of scattering amplitudes. However, traditional methods are impractical to calculate high order phenomenologically relevant observables. Building on a few decades of astonishing progress in developing non-standard computational techniques, it has been recently conjectured that amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills are given by the volume of the (dual) amplituhedron. After providing an introduction to the subject at tree-level, we discuss a special class of differential equations obeyed by the corresponding volume forms. In particular, we show how they fix completely the amplituhedron volume for next-to-maximally helicity violating scattering amplitudes.

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arXiv2016

Revisiting N=4 superconformal blocks

We study four-point correlation functions of four generic half-BPS supermultiplets of N=4 SCFT in four dimensions. We use the two-particle Casimir of four-dimensional superconformal algebra to derive superconformal blocks which contribute to the partial wave expansion of such correlators. The derived blocks are defined on analytic superspace and allow us in principle to find any component of the four-point correlator. The lowest component of the result agrees with the superconformal blocks found by Dolan and Osborn.

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arXiv2016

Towards the Amplituhedron Volume

It has been recently conjectured that scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 super Yang-Mills are given by the volume of the (dual) amplituhedron. In this paper we show some interesting connections between the tree-level amplituhedron and a special class of differential equations. In particular we demonstrate how the amplituhedron volume for NMHV amplitudes is determined by these differential equations. The new formulation allows for a straightforward geometric description, without any reference to triangulations. Finally we discuss possible implications for volumes related to generic N^kMHV amplitudes.

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arXiv2016

Large spin systematics in CFT

Using conformal field theory (CFT) arguments we derive an infinite number of constraints on the large spin expansion of the anomalous dimensions and structure constants of higher spin operators. These arguments rely only on analiticity, unitarity, crossing-symmetry and the structure of the conformal partial wave expansion. We obtain results for both, perturbative CFT to all order in the perturbation parameter, as well as non-perturbatively. For the case of conformal gauge theories this provides a proof of the reciprocity principle to all orders in perturbation theory and provides a new "reciprocity" principle for structure constants. We argue that these results extend also to non-conformal theories.

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arXiv2015

Lessons from crossing symmetry at large N

We consider the four-point correlator of the stress tensor multiplet in N=4 SYM. We construct all solutions consistent with crossing symmetry in the limit of large central charge c ~ N^2 and large g^2 N. While we find an infinite tower of solutions, we argue most of them are suppressed by an extra scale Δ_{gap} and are consistent with the upper bounds for the scaling dimension of unprotected operators observed in the numerical superconformal bootstrap at large central charge. These solutions organize as a double expansion in 1/c and 1/Δ_{gap}. Our solutions are valid to leading order in 1/c and to all orders in 1/Δ_{gap} and reproduce, in particular, instanton corrections previously found. Furthermore, we find a connection between such upper bounds and positivity constraints arising from causality in flat space. Finally, we show that certain relations derived from causality constraints for scattering in AdS follow from crossing symmetry.

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arXiv2014

N=4 Scattering Amplitudes and the Deformed Grassmannian

Some time ago the general tree-level scattering amplitudes of N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory were expressed as certain Grassmannian contour integrals. These remarkable formulas allow to clearly expose the super-conformal, dual super-conformal, and Yangian symmetries of the amplitudes. Using ideas from integrability it was recently shown that the building blocks of the amplitudes permit a natural multi-parameter deformation. However, this approach had been criticized by the observation that it seemed impossible to reassemble the building blocks into Yangian-invariant deformed non-MHV amplitudes. In this note we demonstrate that the deformations may be succinctly summarized by a simple modification of the measure of the Grassmannian integrals, leading to a Yangian-invariant deformation of the general tree-level amplitudes. Interestingly, the deformed building-blocks appear as residues of poles in the spectral parameter planes. Given that the contour integrals also contain information on the amplitudes at loop-level, we expect the deformations to be useful there as well. In particular, applying meromorphicity arguments, they may be expected to regulate all notorious infrared divergences. We also point out relations to Gelfand hypergeometric functions and the quantum Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations.

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arXiv2014

A Shortcut to General Tree-level Scattering Amplitudes in N=4 SYM via Integrability

We combine recent applications of the two-dimensional quantum inverse scattering method to the scattering amplitude problem in four-dimensional N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory. Integrability allows us to obtain a general, explicit method for the derivation of the Yangian invariants relevant for tree-level scattering amplitudes in the N=4 model.

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arXiv2013

Spectral Parameters for Scattering Amplitudes in N=4 Super Yang-Mills Theory

Planar N=4 Super Yang-Mills theory appears to be a quantum integrable four-dimensional conformal theory. This has been used to find equations believed to describe its exact spectrum of anomalous dimensions. Integrability seemingly also extends to the planar space-time scattering amplitudes of the N=4 model, which show strong signs of Yangian invariance. However, in contradistinction to the spectral problem, this has not yet led to equations determining the exact amplitudes. We propose that the missing element is the spectral parameter, ubiquitous in integrable models. We show that it may indeed be included into recent on-shell approaches to scattering amplitude integrands, providing a natural deformation of the latter. Under some constraints, Yangian symmetry is preserved. Finally we speculate that the spectral parameter might also be the regulator of choice for controlling the infrared divergences appearing when integrating the integrands in exactly four dimensions.

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