On-Shell Techniques for Tree-Level Amplitudes

Abstract

In this chapter we focus on the pole structure of tree-level amplitudes. We argue that amplitudes factorise on these poles into lower-point amplitudes. Moreover, universal factorisation structures emerge when two momenta become collinear as well as in the limit of low energy of a single particle—the soft limit. These factorisation properties are the basis of an efficient technique for computing tree-level scattering amplitudes in gauge theories and gravity recursively—without ever referring to Feynman rules or even a Lagrangian. These recursion relations use as input lower-point amplitudes, so that the gauge redundancy, which is partly responsible for the complexity of conventional Feynman graph calculations, is absent in this entirely on-shell based formalism. We then show the invariance of scattering amplitudes under Poincaré transformations, and introduce the conformal symmetry of gauge-theory tree-level amplitudes. Finally, we highlight a surprising double-copy relation between gluon and graviton amplitudes.