RUI: Amplitudes in Gauge Theory and Gravity

Bowdoin College, Brunswick ME

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds the research activities of Professor Stephen Naculich at Bowdoin College. Theoretical elementary particle physics seeks to develop mathematical models that can explain the nature and behavior of the smallest constituents of matter (the so-called "elementary particles"). As part of his research, Professor Naculich aims to develop more efficient mathematical tools for calculating the predictions of existing models that describe the behaviors of quarks and gluons, particles that are important for understanding the strong interaction, and extending these methods to more general theories. A second goal of this research is to explore links between these sorts of theories and theories that describe the behavior of gravitons, the particles responsible for the force of gravity. The insights gained through this research will be disseminated through journal publications, seminars, and conference proceedings. As a result, this research will advance the national interest by promoting the progress of science in one of its most fundamental directions: the discovery and understanding of new physical laws. This project is also expected to have significant broader impacts, since it integrally involves participation by undergraduate students. It will therefore contribute to their education by providing hands-on training in research methods in theoretical physics. Such involvement will encourage and prepare highly-talented students for graduate study and careers in critical scientific fields. In more technical terms, this project will focus on the structure of perturbative scattering amplitudes in gauge theories and gravity, and the relations between them. In particular, the project will explore the Regge (or very high energy) limit of scattering amplitudes in nonplanar supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory to all orders in the loop expansion, combining group theory methods, explicit loop-level results, the known structure of infrared divergences, and eikonal methods. It will also investigate, using similar tools, the Regge limit of scattering amplitudes in gravity and supergravity, and its connection with the two-body problem in general relativity and gravitational wave generation. Finally, this research will involve the continued exploration of the recently discovered "color-factor symmetry" of tree- and loop-level gauge-theory amplitudes, and its relationship to color-kinematic duality in general gauge theories. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.