Amplitudes for Astrophysicists: Known Knowns
arXiv:1704.05067 · doi:10.1007/s10714-018-2475-0
Abstract
The use of quantum field theory to understand astrophysical phenomena is not new. However, for the most part, the methods used are those that have been developed decades ago. The intervening years have seen some remarkable developments in computational quantum field theoretic tools. In particle physics, this technology has facilitated calculations that, even ten years ago would have seemed laughably difficult. It is remarkable, then, that most of these new techniques have remained firmly within the domain of high energy physics. We would like to change this. As alluded to in the title, this is the first in a series of papers aimed at showcasing the use of modern on-shell methods in the context of astrophysics and cosmology. In this first article, we use the old problem of the bending of light by a compact object as an anchor to pedagogically develop these new computational tools. Once developed, we then illustrate their power and utility with an application to the scattering of gravitational waves.
50 pages (sorry!) but lots of figures, some worked examples and a glossary. v2: now with feynman diagrams and added references v3: updated to match published version
References in corpus (11)
- New Relations for Gauge-Theory Amplitudes
- Radiation and the classical double copy for color charges
- Inelastic Black Hole Scattering from Charged Scalar Amplitudes
- Classical gluon and graviton radiation from the bi-adjoint scalar double copy
- Light-like Scattering in Quantum Gravity
- Amplitudes and Correlators to Ten Loops Using Simple, Graphical Bootstraps
- On-shell constructibility of tree amplitudes in general field theories
- Massive Spin-2 Scattering and Asymptotic Superluminality
- On-shell recursion relations for gravity
- Lower Limit to the Scale of an Effective Theory of Gravitation
- Higher-Order Gravitational Lensing Reconstruction using Feynman Diagrams