Compton-like scattering of a scalar particle with N photons and one graviton

Abstract

Tree-level scattering amplitudes for a scalar particle coupled to an arbitrary number N of photons and a single graviton are computed. We employ the worldline formalism as the main tool to compute the irreducible part of the amplitude, where all the photons and the graviton are directly attached to the scalar line, then derive a tree replacement rule to construct the reducible parts of the amplitude which involve irreducible pure N-photon two-scalar amplitudes where one photon line emits the graviton. We test our construction by verifying the on-shell gauge and diffeomorphism Ward identities, at arbitrary N.

21 pages, 3 figures. Footnote added in Section 3 to clarify on the adopted (worldline) minimal coupling between the scalar particle and gravity; it differs from the published version only on this. Dedicated to the memory of Corneliu Sochichiu