IAS Amplitudes Group Meeting

Abstract: Scattering amplitudes for the simplest theory of colored scalars— Tr $\phi^3$ theory — have been understood as arising from a counting problem associated with curves on a surface (arXiv:2309.15913v1). This formulation produces “stringy” integrals for the amplitudes, built off of variables defined on the surface, from which the field theory limit as $\alpha^\prime \to 0$ can easily be extracted. In this talk we will extend this approach to theories closer to the real world — in particular the non-linear sigma model and Yang-Mills theory. We will explain how amplitudes in these theories are surprisingly obtained from those of the Tr $\phi^3$ theory by simple shifts of the kinematic data.  We will also explain how these “stringy” formulations expose universal features of the amplitudes present in all these colored theories — ranging from hidden patterns of zeroes to unusual factorization properties away from singularities.