No Arabic abstract
A method to unitarize the scattering amplitude produced by infinite-range forces is developed and applied to Born terms. In order to apply $S$-matrix techniques, based on unitarity and analyticity, we first derive an $S$-matrix free of infrared divergences. This is achieved by removing a divergent phase factor due to the interactions mediated by the massless particles in the crossed channels, a procedure that is related to previous formalisms to treat infrared divergences. We apply this method in detail by unitarizing the Born terms for graviton-graviton scattering in pure gravity and we find a scalar graviton-graviton resonance with vacuum quantum numbers ($J^{PC}=0^{++}$) that we call the textit{graviball}. Remarkably, this resonance is located below the Planck mass but deep in the complex $s$-plane (with $s$ the usual Mandelstam variable), so that its effects along the physical real $s$ axis peak for values significantly lower than this scale. We argue that the position and width of the graviball are reduced when including extra light fields in the theory. This could lead to phenomenological consequences in scenarios of quantum gravity with a large number of such fields or, in general, with a low-energy ultraviolet completion. We also apply this formalism to two non-relativistic potentials with exact known solutions for the scattering amplitudes: Coulomb scattering and an energy-dependent potential obtained from the Coulomb one with a zero at threshold. This latter case shares the same $J=0$ partial-wave projected Born term as the graviton-graviton case, except for a global factor. We find that the relevant resonance structure of these examples is reproduced by our methods, which represents a strong indication of their robustness.
We study graviton-graviton scattering in partial-wave amplitudes after unitarizing their Born terms. In order to apply S-matrix techniques, based on unitarity and analyticity, we introduce an S-matrix free of infrared divergences. This is achieved by removing a diverging phase factor related to the infinite-range character of the interactions mediated by graviton exchange in the crossed channels. A scalar graviton-graviton resonance with vacuum quantum numbers (J^{PC}=0^{++}) is obtained as a pole in the nonperturbative S-wave amplitude, which we call the {it graviball}. Its resonant effects along the physical real s axis may peak at values much lower than the UV cutoff of the theory. For some scenarios, this phenomenon could have phenomenological consequences at relatively low-energy scales.
We present the analytic form of the two-loop four-graviton scattering amplitudes in Einstein gravity. To remove ultraviolet divergences we include counterterms quadratic and cubic in the Riemann curvature tensor. The two-loop numerical unitarity approach is used to deal with the challenging momentum dependence of the interactions. We exploit the algebraic properties of the integrand of the amplitude in order to map it to a minimal basis of Feynman integrals. Analytic expressions are obtained from numerical evaluations of the amplitude. Finally, we show that four-graviton scattering observables depend on fewer couplings than naively expected.
We reconstruct the Lorentzian graviton propagator in asymptotically safe quantum gravity from Euclidean data. The reconstruction is applied to both the dynamical fluctuation graviton and the background graviton propagator. We prove that the spectral function of the latter necessarily has negative parts similar to, and for the same reasons, as the gluon spectral function. In turn, the spectral function of the dynamical graviton is positive. We argue that the latter enters cross sections and other observables in asymptotically safe quantum gravity. Hence, its positivity may hint at the unitarity of asymptotically safe quantum gravity.
We argue that the scattering of gravitons in ordinary Einstein gravity possesses a hidden conformal symmetry at tree level in any number of dimensions. The presence of this conformal symmetry is indicated by the dilaton soft theorem in string theory, and it is reminiscent of the conformal invariance of gluon tree-level amplitudes in four dimensions. To motivate the underlying prescription, we demonstrate that formulating the conformal symmetry of gluon amplitudes in terms of momenta and polarization vectors requires manifest reversal and cyclic symmetry. Similarly, our formulation of the conformal symmetry of graviton amplitudes relies on a manifestly permutation symmetric form of the amplitude function.
The extended-BMS algebra of asymptotically flat spacetime contains an SO(3,1) subgroup that acts by conformal transformations on the celestial sphere. It is of interest to study the representations of this subgroup associated with gravitons. To reduce the equation of motion to a Schrodinger-like equation it is necessary to impose a non-covariant gauge condition. Using these solutions, leading-order gauge invariant Weyl scalars are then computed and decomposed into families of unitary principal series representations. An invertible holographic mapping is constructed between these unitary principal series operators and massless spin-2 perturbations of flat spacetime.