IAS High Energy Theory Seminar

Combinatorics of Amplituhedra – Scattering Amplitudes and Triangulations

All in-person attendees must be fully vaccinated, including a booster dose. Individuals must be prepared to present proof of vaccination and booster if asked but will not be required to submit proof. Masks are optional in all indoor spaces.  

This seminar will be presented in-person and on Zoom.
https://theias.zoom.us/j/84232389159?pwd=UAWukoEv3RMKL8ssHZ2nUfIwggISU7.1

Abstract: In this talk I will discuss about Amplituhedra – generalizations of polytopes inside the Grassmannian – introduced by physicists as one of the new geometric constructions encoding physical observables in Quantum Field Theories. In particular, I will explain how the problem of finding triangulations of Amplituhedra is related to computing scattering amplitudes of planar N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. We will discuss how the combinatorics of triangulations interplays with T-duality from String Theory, in connection with a dual object – the Momentum Amplituhedron. A generalization of T-duality led us to discover a striking duality between triangulations of Amplituhedra of m=2 type and the ones of a seemingly unrelated object – the Hypersimplex. The latter is a polytope with beautiful combinatorics with connections to matroid theory and tropical geometry. Finally, we comment on how the search for triangulations of Amplituhedra beyond the physical m=4 type opens up a new surprising zoo of complexity which points towards a generalization of the way “amplitudes” can factorise.

Date & Time

November 11, 2022 | 1:45pm – 3:00pm

Location

Bloomberg Lecture Hall (IAS) & Zoom

Affiliation

Institute for Advanced Study & Harvard University

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