Worldsheet factorization for twistor-strings

Abstract

We study the multiparticle factorization properties of two worldsheet theories which--at tree-level--describe the scattering of massless particles in four dimensions: the Berkovits-Witten twistor-string for N=4 super-Yang-Mills coupled to N=4 conformal supergravity, and the Skinner twistor-string for N=8 supergravity. By considering these string-like theories, we can study factorization at the level of the worldsheet before any Wick contractions or integrals have been performed; this is much simpler than considering the factorization properties of the amplitudes themselves. In Skinner's twistor-string this entails the addition of worldsheet gravity as well as a formalism that represents all external states in a manifestly symmetric way, which we develop explicitly at genus zero. We confirm that the scattering amplitudes of Skinner's theory, as well as the gauge theory amplitudes for the planar sector of the Berkovits-Witten theory, factorize appropriately at genus zero. In the non-planar sector, we find behavior indicative of conformal gravity in the Berkovits-Witten twistor-string. We contrast factorization in twistor-strings with the story in ordinary string theory, and also make some remarks on higher genus factorization and disconnected prescriptions.

50 pages, 7 figures. v2: typos corrected and references updated

References in corpus (12)

• Generating Tree Amplitudes in N=4 SYM and N=8 SG
• E7(7) constraints on counterterms in N=8 supergravity
• Gravity from Rational Curves
• 5 loops in 24/5 dimensions
• Pure Spinor Vertex Operators in Siegel Gauge and Loop Amplitude Regularization
• Conformal and Einstein gravity from twistor actions
• Heterotic twistor-string theory
• From dlogs to dilogs; the super Yang-Mills MHV amplitude revisited
• Conformal Supergravity Tree Amplitudes from Open Twistor String Theory
• A Direct Proof of BCFW Recursion for Twistor-Strings
• Higher-loop amplitudes in the non-minimal pure spinor formalism
• Dynamical twisting and the b ghost in the pure spinor formalism

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Ambitwistor strings in 4-dimensions
• Scattering equations and BCJ relations for gauge and gravitational amplitudes with massive scalar particles
• One-loop Scattering Equations and Amplitudes from Forward Limit
• Perturbative gauge theory at null infinity
• CHY representations for gauge theory and gravity amplitudes with up to three massive particles
• Scattering Equations in AdS: Scalar Correlators in Arbitrary Dimensions
• Scattering equations and virtuous kinematic numerators and dual-trace functions
• Graviton scattering in self-dual radiative space-times
• All-order celestial OPE in the MHV sector
• Gluon scattering on self-dual radiative gauge fields
• On tree amplitudes of supersymmetric Einstein-Yang-Mills theory
• On differential operators and unifying relations for $1$-loop Feynman integrands
• Transmutation operators and expansions for $1$-loop Feynman integrands