It is a remarkable fact that MHV amplitudes in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory at arbitrary loop order can be written as the product of the tree amplitude with the same helicity configuration and a universal, helicity-blind function of the kinematic invariants. In this note we show how for one-loop MHV amplitudes with an arbitrary number of external legs this universal function can be derived using Wilson loops. Our result is in precise agreement with the known expression for the infinite sequence of MHV amplitudes in N = 4 super Yang-Mills. In the fourpoint case, we are able to reproduce the expression of the amplitude to all orders in the dimensional regularisation parameter ǫ. This prescription disentangles cleanly infrared divergences and finite terms, and leads to an intriguing one-to-one mapping between certain Wilson loop diagrams and (finite) two-mass easy box functions. 1

We propose a new, twistor string theory inspired formalism to calculate loop amplitudes in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory. In this approach, maximal helicity violating (MHV) tree amplitudes of N = 4 super Yang-Mills are used as vertices, using an offshell prescription introduced by Cachazo, Svrcek and Witten, and combined into effective diagrams that incorporate large numbers of conventional Feynman diagrams. As an example, we apply this formalism to the particular class of supersymmetric MHV one-loop scattering amplitudes with an arbitrary number of external legs in N = 4 super Yang-Mills. Remarkably, our approach naturally leads to a representation of the amplitudes as dispersion integrals, which we evaluate exactly. This yields a new, simplified form for the MHV amplitudes, which is equivalent to the expressions obtained previously by Bern, Dixon, Dunbar and Kosower using the cut-constructibility approach. 1

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Britto, Cachazo and Feng have recently derived a recursion relation for tree-level scattering amplitudes in Yang-Mills. This relation has a bilinear structure inherited from factorisation on multi-particle poles of the scattering amplitudes -a rather generic feature of field theory. Motivated by this, we propose a new recursion relation for scattering amplitudes of gravitons at tree level. Using this, we derive a new general formula for the MHV tree-level scattering amplitude for n gravitons. Finally, we comment on the existence of recursion relations in general field theories.

We derive a compact expression for the three-point MHV form factors of half-BPS operators in N = 4 super Yang-Mills at two loops. The main tools of our calculation are generalised unitarity applied at the form factor level, and the compact expressions for supersymmetric tree-level form factors and amplitudes entering the cuts. We confirm that infrared divergences exponentiate as expected, and that collinear factorisation is entirely captured by an ABDK/BDS ansatz. Next, we construct the two-loop remainder function obtained by subtracting this ansatz from the full two-loop form factor and compute it numerically. Using symbology, combined with various physical constraints and symmetries, we find a unique solution for its symbol. With this input we construct a remarkably compact analytic expression for the remainder function, which contains only classical polylogarithms, and compare it to our numerical results. Furthermore, we make the surprising observation that our remainder is equal to the maximally transcendental piece of a closely related two-loop amplitude in QCD. 1

We calculate form factors of half-BPS operators in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory at tree level and one loop using novel applications of recursion relations and unitarity. In particular, we determine the expression of the one-loop form factors with two scalars and an arbitrary number of positive-helicity gluons. These quantities resemble closely the MHV scattering amplitudes, including holomorphicity of the tree-level form factor, and the expansion in terms of two-mass easy box functions of the oneloop result. Next, we compare our result for these form factors to the calculation of a particular periodic Wilson loop at one loop, finding agreement. This suggests a novel duality relating form factors to periodic Wilson loops.

In this paper we continue our systematic study of form factors of half-BPS operators in N = 4 super Yang-Mills. In particular, we extend various on-shell techniques known for amplitudes to the case of form factors, including MHV rules, recursion relations, unitarity and dual MHV rules. As an application, we present the solution of the recursion relation for split-helicity form factors. We then consider form factors of the stress-tensor multiplet operator and of its chiral truncation, and write down supersymmetric Ward identities using chiral as well as non-chiral superspace formalisms. This allows us to obtain compact formulae for families of form factors, such as the maximally non-MHV case. Finally we generalise dual MHV rules in dual momentum space to form factors.

We compute for the first time the two-loop corrections to arbitrary n-gon lightlike Wilson loops in N = 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, using efficient numerical methods. The calculation is motivated by the remarkable agreement between the finite part of planar six-point MHV amplitudes and hexagon Wilson loops which has been observed at two loops. At n = 6 we confirm that the ABDK/BDS ansatz must be corrected by adding a remainder function, which depends only on conformally invariant ratios of kinematic variables. We numerically compute remainder functions for n = 7, 8 and verify dual conformal invariance. Furthermore, we study simple and multiple collinear limits of the Wilson loop remainder functions and demonstrate that they have precisely the form required by the collinear factorisation of the corresponding two-loop n-point amplitudes. The number of distinct diagram topologies contributing to the n-gon Wilson loops does not increase with n, and there is a fixed number of "master integrals", which we have computed. Thus we have essentially computed general polygon Wilson loops, and if the correspondence with amplitudes continues to hold, all planar n-point two-loop MHV amplitudes in the N = 4 theory. 1