Aspects of Scattering Amplitudes and Moduli Space Localization

Aspects of Scattering Amplitudes and Moduli Space Localization
Author: Sebastian Mizera
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2020-09-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030530108

This thesis proposes a new perspective on scattering amplitudes in quantum field theories. Their standard formulation in terms of sums over Feynman diagrams is replaced by a computation of geometric invariants, called intersection numbers, on moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. It therefore gives a physical interpretation of intersection numbers, which have been extensively studied in the mathematics literature in the context of generalized hypergeometric functions. This book explores physical consequences of this formulation, such as recursion relations, connections to geometry and string theory, as well as a phenomenon called moduli space localization. After reviewing necessary mathematical background, including topology of moduli spaces of Riemann spheres with punctures and its fundamental group, the definition and properties of intersection numbers are presented. A comprehensive list of applications and relations to other objects is given, including those to scattering amplitudes in open- and closed-string theories. The highlights of the thesis are the results regarding localization properties of intersection numbers in two opposite limits: in the low- and the high-energy expansion. In order to facilitate efficient computations of intersection numbers the author introduces recursion relations that exploit fibration properties of the moduli space. These are formulated in terms of so-called braid matrices that encode the information of how points braid around each other on the corresponding Riemann surface. Numerous application of this approach are presented for computation of scattering amplitudes in various gauge and gravity theories. This book comes with an extensive appendix that gives a pedagogical introduction to the topic of homologies with coefficients in a local system.

Anti-Differentiation and the Calculation of Feynman Amplitudes

Anti-Differentiation and the Calculation of Feynman Amplitudes
Author: Johannes Blümlein
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 551
Release: 2021-11-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030802191

This volume comprises review papers presented at the Conference on Antidifferentiation and the Calculation of Feynman Amplitudes, held in Zeuthen, Germany, in October 2020, and a few additional invited reviews. The book aims at comprehensive surveys and new innovative results of the analytic integration methods of Feynman integrals in quantum field theory. These methods are closely related to the field of special functions and their function spaces, the theory of differential equations and summation theory. Almost all of these algorithms have a strong basis in computer algebra. The solution of the corresponding problems are connected to the analytic management of large data in the range of Giga- to Terabytes. The methods are widely applicable to quite a series of other branches of mathematics and theoretical physics.

What is the iε for the S-matrix?

What is the iε for the S-matrix?
Author: Holmfridur Sigridar Hannesdottir
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2023-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3031182588

This book provides a modern perspective on the analytic structure of scattering amplitudes in quantum field theory, with the goal of understanding and exploiting consequences of unitarity, causality, and locality. It focuses on the question: Can the S-matrix be complexified in a way consistent with causality? The affirmative answer has been well understood since the 1960s, in the case of 2→2 scattering of the lightest particle in theories with a mass gap at low momentum transfer, where the S-matrix is analytic everywhere except at normal-threshold branch cuts. We ask whether an analogous picture extends to realistic theories, such as the Standard Model, that include massless fields, UV/IR divergences, and unstable particles. Especially in the presence of light states running in the loops, the traditional iε prescription for approaching physical regions might break down, because causality requirements for the individual Feynman diagrams can be mutually incompatible. We demonstrate that such analyticity problems are not in contradiction with unitarity. Instead, they should be thought of as finite-width effects that disappear in the idealized 2→2 scattering amplitudes with no unstable particles, but might persist at higher multiplicity. To fix these issues, we propose an iε-like prescription for deforming branch cuts in the space of Mandelstam invariants without modifying the analytic properties of the physical amplitude. This procedure results in a complex strip around the real part of the kinematic space, where the S-matrix remains causal. We illustrate all the points on explicit examples, both symbolically and numerically, in addition to giving a pedagogical introduction to the analytic properties of the perturbative S-matrix from a modern point of view. To help with the investigation of related questions, we introduce a number of tools, including holomorphic cutting rules, new approaches to dispersion relations, as well as formulae for local behavior of Feynman integrals near branch points. This book is well suited for anyone with knowledge of quantum field theory at a graduate level who wants to become familiar with the complex-analytic structure of Feynman integrals.

Grassmannian Geometry of Scattering Amplitudes

Grassmannian Geometry of Scattering Amplitudes
Author: Nima Arkani-Hamed
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2016-05-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1316571645

Outlining a revolutionary reformulation of the foundations of perturbative quantum field theory, this book is a self-contained and authoritative analysis of the application of this new formulation to the case of planar, maximally supersymmetric Yang–Mills theory. The book begins by deriving connections between scattering amplitudes and Grassmannian geometry from first principles before introducing novel physical and mathematical ideas in a systematic manner accessible to both physicists and mathematicians. The principle players in this process are on-shell functions which are closely related to certain sub-strata of Grassmannian manifolds called positroids - in terms of which the classification of on-shell functions and their relations becomes combinatorially manifest. This is an essential introduction to the geometry and combinatorics of the positroid stratification of the Grassmannian and an ideal text for advanced students and researchers working in the areas of field theory, high energy physics, and the broader fields of mathematical physics.

Continuous Advances in QCD 2006

Continuous Advances in QCD 2006
Author: M. Peloso
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 611
Release: 2007
Genre: Science
ISBN: 981270826X

The volume contains the proceedings of the workshop Continuous Advances in QCD 2006, hosted by the Wiliam I Fine Theoretical Physics Institute. This biennial workshop was the seventh meeting of the series, held at the University of Minnesota since 1994. The workshop gathered together about 110 scientists (a record number for the event), including most of the leading experts in quantum chromodynamics and non-Abelian gauge theories in general.

Continuous Advances In Qcd 2006 - Proceedings Of The Conference

Continuous Advances In Qcd 2006 - Proceedings Of The Conference
Author: Misha Shifman
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 611
Release: 2007-03-12
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9814475971

The volume contains the proceedings of the workshop Continuous Advances in QCD 2006, hosted by the Wiliam I Fine Theoretical Physics Institute. This biennial workshop was the seventh meeting of the series, held at the University of Minnesota since 1994. The workshop gathered together about 110 scientists (a record number for the event), including most of the leading experts in quantum chromodynamics and non-Abelian gauge theories in general.

Proceedings of the Conference on Continuous Advances in QCD 2006

Proceedings of the Conference on Continuous Advances in QCD 2006
Author: Marco M. Peloso
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 611
Release: 2007
Genre: Science
ISBN: 981270552X

The volume contains the proceedings of the workshop Continuous Advances in QCD 2006, hosted by the Wiliam I Fine Theoretical Physics Institute. This biennial workshop was the seventh meeting of the series, held at the University of Minnesota since 1994. The workshop gathered together about 110 scientists (a record number for the event), including most of the leading experts in quantum chromodynamics and non-Abelian gauge theories in general.

Topological Geometrodynamics

Topological Geometrodynamics
Author: Matti Pitkanen
Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers
Total Pages: 1235
Release: 2016-03-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1681081792

Topological geometrodynamics (TGD) is a modification of the theory of general relativity inspired by the problems related to the definition of inertial and gravitational energies in the earlier hypotheses. TGD is also a generalization of super string models. TGD brings forth an elegant theoretical projection of reality and builds upon the work by renowned scientists (Wheeler, Feynman, Penrose, Einstein, Josephson to name a few). In TGD, Physical space-time planes are visualized as four-dimensional surfaces in a certain 8-dimensional space (H). The choice of H is fixed by symmetries of standard model and leads to a geometric mapping of known classical fields and elementary particle numbers. TGD differs from Einstein’s geometrodynamics in the way space-time planes or ‘sheets’ are lumped together. Extending the theory based on fusing number concepts implies a further generalisation of the space-time concept allowing the identification of space-time correlates of cognition and intentionality. Additionally, zero energy ontology forces an extension of quantum measurement theory to a theory of consciousness and a hierarchy of phases is identified. Dark matter is thus predicted with far reaching implications for the understanding of consciousness and living systems. Therefore, it sets a solid foundation for modeling our universe in geometric terms. Topological Geometrodynamics: An Overview explains basic and advanced concepts about TGD. The book covers introductory information and classical TGD concepts before delving into twistor-space theory, particle physics, infinite-dimensional spinor geometry, generalized number theory, Planck constants, and the applications of TGD theory in research. The book is a valuable guide to TDG theory for researchers and advanced graduates in theoretical physics and cosmology.

Noncommutative Geometry, Quantum Fields and Motives

Noncommutative Geometry, Quantum Fields and Motives
Author: Alain Connes
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
Total Pages: 810
Release: 2019-03-13
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 1470450453

The unifying theme of this book is the interplay among noncommutative geometry, physics, and number theory. The two main objects of investigation are spaces where both the noncommutative and the motivic aspects come to play a role: space-time, where the guiding principle is the problem of developing a quantum theory of gravity, and the space of primes, where one can regard the Riemann Hypothesis as a long-standing problem motivating the development of new geometric tools. The book stresses the relevance of noncommutative geometry in dealing with these two spaces. The first part of the book deals with quantum field theory and the geometric structure of renormalization as a Riemann-Hilbert correspondence. It also presents a model of elementary particle physics based on noncommutative geometry. The main result is a complete derivation of the full Standard Model Lagrangian from a very simple mathematical input. Other topics covered in the first part of the book are a noncommutative geometry model of dimensional regularization and its role in anomaly computations, and a brief introduction to motives and their conjectural relation to quantum field theory. The second part of the book gives an interpretation of the Weil explicit formula as a trace formula and a spectral realization of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function. This is based on the noncommutative geometry of the adèle class space, which is also described as the space of commensurability classes of Q-lattices, and is dual to a noncommutative motive (endomotive) whose cyclic homology provides a general setting for spectral realizations of zeros of L-functions. The quantum statistical mechanics of the space of Q-lattices, in one and two dimensions, exhibits spontaneous symmetry breaking. In the low-temperature regime, the equilibrium states of the corresponding systems are related to points of classical moduli spaces and the symmetries to the class field theory of the field of rational numbers and of imaginary quadratic fields, as well as to the automorphisms of the field of modular functions. The book ends with a set of analogies between the noncommutative geometries underlying the mathematical formulation of the Standard Model minimally coupled to gravity and the moduli spaces of Q-lattices used in the study of the zeta function.

Condensed Matter Field Theory

Condensed Matter Field Theory
Author: Alexander Altland
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 785
Release: 2010-03-11
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0521769752

This primer is aimed at elevating graduate students of condensed matter theory to a level where they can engage in independent research. Topics covered include second quantisation, path and functional field integration, mean-field theory and collective phenomena.