UCLA

In Part 1, we combine on-shell methods with the six-dimensional helicity formalism of Cheung and O'Connell to construct tree-level and multiloop scattering amplitudes. As a nontrivial multiloop example, we confirm that the recently constructed four-loop four-point amplitude of N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory, including nonplanar contributions, is valid for dimensions less than or equal to six. We demonstrate that the tree-level amplitudes of maximal super-Yang-Mills theory in six dimensions, when stripped of their overall momentum and supermomentum delta functions, are covariant with respect to the six-dimensional dual conformal group. We demonstrate that this property is also present for loop amplitudes.

In Part 2, we explore consequences of the recently discovered duality between color and kinematics, which states that kinematic numerators in a diagrammatic expansion of gauge-theory amplitudes can be arranged to satisfy Jacobi-like identities in one-to-one correspondence to the associated color factors. The related squaring relations express gravity amplitudes in terms of gauge-theory ingredients. We then present a Yang-Mills Lagrangian whose diagrams through five points manifestly satisfy the duality between color and kinematics. Finally, we compute the coefficient of the potential three-loop divergence in pure N=4 supergravity and show that it vanishes, contrary to expectations from symmetry arguments.