What is... a scattering amplitude?

Vortrag von Jorrit Bosma

Datum: 12.12.17  Zeit: 17.15 - 18.30  Raum:

After a brief overview of what role scattering amplitudes play in connecting quantum field theory to reality, I will outline a new method to compute them that was proposed recently by Cachazo, He, and Yuan. They write amplitudes (at tree level) as contour integrals that localise on the solutions of a set of equations they call the scattering equations. These scattering equations can be rewritten in a polynomial form, enabling the use of methods from algebraic geometry. The rest of this talk will be devoted to discussing how computational algebraic geometry can be used to compute these amplitudes.