Worldsheet methods for perturbative quantum field theory

This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part concerns the study of the ambitwistor string and the scattering equations, while the second concerns the interplay of the symmetries of the asymptotic null boundary of Minkowski space, called $\scri$, and scattering amplitudes. The first part begins with a review of the CHY formulas for scattering amplitudes, the scattering equations and the ambitwistor string including its pure spinor version. Next are the results of this thesis concerning these topics, they are: generalizing the ambitwistor model to higher genus surfaces; calculating the one-loop NS-NS scattering amplitudes and studying their modular and factorization properties; deriving the one-loop scattering equations and analyzing their factorization; showing that, in the case of the four graviton amplitude, the ambitwistor amplitude gives the expected kinematical prefactor; matching this amplitude to the field theory expectation in a particular kinematical regime; solving the one loop scattering equations in this kinematical regime; a conjecture for the IR behaviour of the one-loop ambitwistor integrand; computing the four graviton, two-loop amplitude using pure spinors; showing that this two-loop amplitude has the correct kinematical prefactor and factorizes as expected for a field theory amplitude; generalizing the ambitwistor string to curved backgrounds; obtaining the field equations for type II supergravity as anomaly cancellation on the worldsheet; generalizing the scattering equations for curved backgrounds. The second part begins with a review of the definition of the null asymptotic boundary of four dimensional Minkowski space, its symmetry algebra, and their relation to soft particles in the S-matrix. Next are the results of this thesis concerning these topics, they are: constructing two models consisting of maps from a worldsheet to $\scri$, one containing the spectrum of $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity, and the other the spectrum of $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills; showing how certain correlators in these theories calculate the tree-level S-matrix of $\mathcal{N}=8$ sugra and $\mathcal{N}=4$ sYM respectively; defining worldsheet charges which encode the action of the appropriate asymptotic symmetry algebra and showing that their Ward-identities recover the soft graviton, and soft gluon factors; defining worldsheet charges for proposed extensions of these symmetry algebras and showing that their Ward-identities give the subleading soft graviton and subleading soft gluon factors.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Cambridge

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Casali, Eduardo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Skinner, David

• scattering amplitudes
• string theory
• quantum field theory
• twistor string
• ambitwistor string
• scattering equations
• CHY formula

Licence

• https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/e1d68891-bfba-4359-8046-d34e0f864a51/download
• https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/

Language dc:language

en

Author Identifier

0000-0002-5840-6498

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.repository.cam.ac.uk:1810/265833