A Study of the Mathematical Structure of Scattering Amplitudes Through Their Singularities
Lead Research Organisation:
Swansea University
Department Name: College of Science
Abstract
Mathematical Physics, The singularity structures of scattering amplitudes in Yang-Mills and gravity theories will be used to probe the underlying mathematical structures of these theories.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Warren Perkins (Primary Supervisor) | |
| John Godwin (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/N509553/1 | 01/10/2016 | 30/06/2022 | |||
| 1818299 | Studentship | EP/N509553/1 | 01/10/2016 | 31/03/2020 | John Godwin |
| Description | I have developed an understanding of the mathematical structure contained in the scattering amplitudes of gluons and gravitons (the latter in an extended theory of gravity) i.e. how very high energy force carrying particles interact at the subatomic level. |
| Exploitation Route | The mathematical objects we calculate, the scattering amplitudes, encode the probability that a certain particle collision or event will occur.. The scattering amplitude are then fed into computer programs at particle accelerators like the LHC at CERN where these types of events will occur. Since there are a multitude of gluon interactions at the LHC they require compact expressions for these interactions in order to make sense of the signals received by the detectors. Our results (along with the reset of the community) are used to decode this signal. On a mathematical front, the scattering amplitude contains the symmetries of the underlying theories along with other symmetries and relations. The latter are not obvious when looking at the theory in the conventional way, at the Lagrangian level and hence uncover hidden symmetries/relations. This indicates that there is a great deal to be learned from looking at scattering amplitudes from a theory point of view. There are two main avenues of research interest when it comes to calculating these mathematical objects. D-dimensional unitarity, used by a lot of groups worldwide, and four-dimensional unitarity, that is primarily used by the group in Swansea. Our methods have been shown to have great promise for developing general formulae that describe n-gluon interactions (where n is any number) for a specific type of scattering amplitude - something that D-dimensional unitarity has been yet to do. This sort of work has already followed on from my latest publication to producing another general n-gluon scattering amplitude and as such it is already being taken forward in the research context. |
| Sectors | Other |
| Description | BUR0031802 and BUR0031803 |
| Amount | £7,145 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Swansea University |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 10/2019 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | University Open Days |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | University open day, where I gave a presentation on life as a postgraduate student and a glimpse at the work I do in the collaboration with Prof. Dave Dunbar and Prof. Warren Perkins on Scattering Amplitudes. The talk was presented to prospective students and their parents as well as other postgraduate students that were also helping out. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018 |