Complete four-loop four-point amplitude in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory

Z. Bern, J. J.M. Carrasco, L. J. Dixon, H. Johansson, R. Roiban

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Abstract

We present the complete four-loop four-point amplitude in N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, for a general gauge group and general D-dimensional covariant kinematics, and including all nonplanar contributions. We use the method of maximal cuts-an efficient application of the unitarity method-to construct the result in terms of 50 four-loop integrals. We give graphical rules, valid in D dimensions, for obtaining various nonplanar contributions from previously-determined terms. We examine the ultraviolet behavior of the amplitude near D=11/2. The nonplanar terms are as well-behaved in the ultraviolet as the planar terms. However, in the color decomposition of the three- and four-loop amplitude for an SU(Nc) gauge group, the coefficients of the double-trace terms are better behaved in the ultraviolet than are the single-trace terms. The results from this paper were an important step toward obtaining the corresponding amplitude in N=8 supergravity, which confirmed the existence of cancellations beyond those needed for ultraviolet finiteness at four loops in four dimensions. Evaluation of the loop integrals near D=4 would permit tests of recent conjectures and results concerning the infrared behavior of four-dimensional massless gauge theory.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number125040
JournalPhysical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
Volume82
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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