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Dixon, Lance J.

Publications and source records attributed to Dixon, Lance J..

Transforming the bootstrap: using Transformers to compute scattering amplitudes in planar N = 4 Super Yang-Mills theory

Abstract We pursue the use of deep learning methods to improve state-of-the-art computations in theoretical high-energy physics. Planar N = 4 Super Yang-Mills theory is a close cousin to the theory that describes Higgs boson production at the Large Hadron Collider; its scattering amplitudes are large mathematical expressions containing integer coefficients. In this paper, we apply Transformers to predict these coefficients. The problem can be formulated in a language-like representation amenable to standard cross-entropy training objectives. We design two related experiments and show that the model achieves high accuracy (> 98%) on both tasks. Our work shows that Transformers can be applied successfully to problems in theoretical physics that require exact solutions.

Cai, Tianji (ORCID:0000000232359486)↗

On gauge amplitudes first appearing at two loops

We study scattering amplitudes in massless non-abelian gauge theory where all outgoing gluons have positive helicity. It has been argued recently by Costello that for a particular fermion representation (8 fundamentals plus one antisymmetric-tensor representation in SU(N)) the one-loop amplitudes vanish identically. We show that this vanishing leads to previously-observed identities among one-loop color-ordered partial amplitudes. We then turn to two loops, where Costello has computed the all-plus amplitudes for this theory, as rational functions of the kinematics for any number of gluons using the celestial chiral algebra (CCA) bootstrap. We show that in dimensional regularization, these two-loop amplitudes are not rational, and they are not even finite as ϵ → 0. However, the finite remainder for four gluons agrees with the formula by Costello. In addition, we provide a mass regulator for the infrared-divergent loop integrals; with this regulator, the CCA bootstrap formula is recovered exactly. Finally, we use the CCA bootstrap to compute the double-trace terms in the theory at two loops for an arbitrary number of gluons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The SAGEX review on scattering amplitudes

This is an introduction to, and invitation to read, a series of review articles on scattering amplitudes in gauge theory, gravity, and superstring theory. Our aim is to provide an overview of the field, from basic aspects to a selection of current (2022) research and developments.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The SAGEX review on scattering amplitudes Chapter 15: The multi-Regge limit

We review the Regge and multi-Regge limit of scattering amplitudes in gauge theory, focusing on QCD and its maximally supersymmetric cousin, planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang–Mills theory. We identify the large logarithms that are developed in these limits, and the progress that has been made in resumming them, towards next-to-next-to-leading logarithms for BFKL evolution in QCD, as well as all-orders proposals in planar $\mathcal{N}=4$ super-Yang–Mills theory and the perturbative checks of those proposals. We also cover the application of single-valued multiple polylogarithms to this important kinematical limit of particle scattering.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

One-loop central-emission vertex for two gluons in $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 super Yang-Mills theory

A necessary ingredient for extending the BFKL equation to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy is the one-loop central emission vertex (CEV) for two gluons which are not strongly ordered in rapidity. Here we consider the one-loop six-gluon amplitude in $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 super Yang-Mills (SYM) theory in a central next-to-multi-Regge kinematic (NMRK) limit, we show that its dispersive part factorises in terms of the two-gluon CEV, and we use it to extract the one-loop two-gluon CEV for any helicity configuration within this theory. This is a component of the two-gluon CEV in QCD. Although computed in the NMRK limit, both the colour structure and the kinematic dependence of the two-gluon CEV capture much of the complexity of the six-gluon amplitudes in general kinematics. In fact, the transcendental functions of the latter can be conveniently written in terms of impact factors, trajectories, single-emission CEVs and a remainder, which is a function of the conformally invariant cross ratios which characterise the six-gluon amplitudes in planar $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 SYM. Finally, as expected, in the MRK limit the two-gluon CEV neatly factorises in terms of two single-emission CEVs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Bootstrapping a stress-tensor form factor through eight loops

We bootstrap the three-point form factor of the chiral stress-tensor multiplet in planar $\mathcal{N}$ = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory at six, seven, and eight loops, using boundary data from the form factor operator product expansion. This may represent the highest perturbative order to which multi-variate quantities in a unitary four-dimensional quantum field theory have been computed. In computing this form factor, we observe and employ new restrictions on pairs and triples of adjacent letters in the symbol. We provide details about the function space required to describe the form factor through eight loops. Plotting the results on various lines provides striking numerical evidence for a finite radius of convergence of perturbation theory. By the principle of maximal transcendentality, our results are expected to give the highest weight part of the gg → Hg and H → ggg amplitudes in the heavy-top limit of QCD through eight loops. These results were also recently used to discover a new antipodal duality between this form factor and a six-point amplitude in the same theory.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗