ICTS

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the original program has been canceled. However, the meeting will be conducted through online lectures.

 

Scattering amplitudes have played a central role in quantum field theory since its inception. Recent years have seen a remarkable advance in our understanding of scattering amplitudes, both for theoretical and phenomenological purposes. Apart from playing a prominent role in high-energy particle physics, these developments have far-reaching implications in a wide range; from hidden symmetries of gauge theories and gravity, to string perturbation and ambi-twistor strings, to new mathematics such as positive geometries.

 

In particular, the search for a theory of S-Matrix has revealed surprising mathematical structures and new formulations underlying scattering amplitudes, with no reference to space and time. One line of research in the past decade has led to beautiful geometric formulations for all-loop scattering amplitudes in planar N=4 SYM, which include positive Grassmannian and the amplituhedron. Locality and unitarity do not play a central role but are derived from these positive geometries. This is closely related to Yangian symmetry, integrability, and mathematics of multi-loop integrals and polylogarithms in N=4 SYM and beyond. More recently, positive geometries have played a key role for amplitudes in more general theories, in conformal bootstrap, and even for the wave function of the universe!

 

Another line of research, probing the Infra-red structure of amplitudes have revealed the central role played by soft theorems and asymptotic symmetries in analyzing the rich space of vacuua of gauge theories and gravity. The formulation of scattering amplitudes which makes these ideas manifest is once again closely tied to ambi-twistor strings.

 

We thus see that there is an intricate web of remarkable recent developments in our understanding of scattering Amplitudes from UV to deep IR. This program will bring together researchers working in scattering amplitudes, IR physics and asymptotic symmetries and mathematics, with the goals of;