Constraints on Tree-Level Higher Order Gravitational Couplings in Superstring Theory
Stephan Stieberger
Max-Planck-Institut fu¨r Physik, Werner-Heisenberg-Institut, 80805 Mu¨nchen, Germany
(Received 1 January 2011; published 16 March 2011)
We consider the scattering amplitudes of five and six gravitons at tree level in superstring theory. Their power series expansions in the Regge slope
0are analyzed through the order
08showing some interesting constraints on higher order gravitational couplings in the effective superstring action such as the absence of
R5terms. Furthermore, some transcendentality constraints on the coefficients of the nonvanishing couplings are observed: the absence of zeta values of even weight through the order
08like the absence of
ð2Þð3ÞR6terms. Our analysis is valid for any superstring background in any space-time dimension, which allows for a conformal field theory description.
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.111601 PACS numbers: 04.60.Cf, 04.50.Gh, 11.25.w
Superstring theories contain a massless spin-two state identified as a graviton. Its interactions are studied by graviton scattering amplitudes. Because of the extended nature of strings the latter are generically nontrivial func- tions on the string tension
0. In the effective field theory description this
0dependence gives rise to a series of infinite many higher order gravitational couplings gov- erned by positive integer powers in
0. The classical Einstein-Hilbert term is reproduced in the zero-slope limit
0! 0 . The modification of the Einstein equations through the order
03has been derived by studying tree-level four graviton scattering amplitudes [1–3] or alternatively by computing four-loop functions of the underlying model [4]. Up to this order the effective (tree- level) superstring action focusing on pure gravitational bosonic terms reads in D space-time dimensions
L
tree¼ 1
2
2R þ
032
94!
2ð 3 Þt
8t
8R
4; (1) with the gravitational coupling constant in D dimen- sions, the Riemann scalar R, the Riemann tensor R
and the tensor t
8defined in Eq. (4.A.21) of [5]:
t
8t
8R
4t
812...8t
812...8R
1212R
3434R
5556R
7878: (2) If the indices are restricted to D ¼ 4 the combination t
8t
8R
4becomes the Bel-Robinson tensor. The absence of R
2and R
3terms in superstring theory is shown in [6].
In D ¼ 4 the result simply follows by expanding the (only independent and nonvanishing) four-graviton amplitude
M ð 1
2
3
þ4
þÞ ¼ 2
2h 12 i
8½ 12 Nð 4 Þh 34 i
Bðs
12; s
14Þ Bðs
12; s
14Þ (3) through the order
03. The superscripts denote the helicities of the corresponding gravitons. Above, we have introduced the kinematic invariants s
ij¼ 2
0k
ik
jinvolving the external (on-shell) momenta k
iand the
Euler Beta function B encoding the
0dependence of the full string amplitude. Furthermore, hiji, ½ij are spinor products (see, e.g., [7,8]), s
ij¼
0fi; jg :¼¼
0hiji½ji, and NðnÞ ¼ Q
n1i¼1
Q
nj¼iþ1
hiji [9].
In Eq. (1) further
0corrections L
0treearise from terms with higher powers in the Riemann tensor R
supple- mented by covariant derivatives D. In the following, these terms are collectively denoted by t
m;nD
mR
n, with some tensor t
m;ncontracting D and the Riemann tensor R.
Generically, the set of these additional interactions may be summarized in the series
L
0tree¼
2X
1n4
X
1m¼0
0n1þmX
0ir2N;i1>1 i1þ...þid¼n1þm
ði
1; . . . ; i
dÞ c
m;n;it
im;nD
2mR
n; (4) with multizeta values (MZVs)
ði
1; . . . ; i
dÞ ¼ X
n1>...>nd>0
Y
dr¼1
n
ir r; i
r2 N ; i
1> 1 of transcendentality degree P
dr¼1
i
r¼ n 1 þ m and depth d supplemented by some rational coefficients c
m;n;i. The prime at the sum (4) means that the latter runs only over a basis of independent MZVs of weight n 1 þ m [10–13]. For a recent account on MZVs, see Ref. [14].
The terms in the sum (4) are probed by computing scattering amplitudes of n gravitons and analyzing their power series in
0[15]. For n ¼ 4 it is straightforward to extract the relevant information, since in this case each term in the
0expansion of (3) directly translates into a term in the effective action (4). Moreover, the MZV co- efficients of the latter are simply products of Riemann zeta functions ði
1Þ of odd degree i
1as a consequence of
Bðs
12; s
14Þ
Bðs
12; s
14Þ ¼ e
2P
1n¼1ð2nþ1Þ
2nþ1ðs2nþ112 þs2nþ113 þs2nþ114 Þ
: (5) In this Letter we discuss the consequences of (on-shell) superstring scattering of five and six gravitons to the PRL 106, 111601 (2011) P H Y S I C A L R E V I E W L E T T E R S
week ending18 MARCH 2011
0031-9007=11=106(11)=111601(4) 111601-1 Ó 2011 American Physical Society
correction terms (4). We find that some of the coefficients c
m;n;iare vanishing and the MZVs of the nonvanishing terms follow some specific pattern.
The string world sheet describing the tree-level string S matrix of N gravitons is described by a complex sphere with N (integrated) insertions z
iof graviton vertex opera- tors V
Gð ; z
i; z
iÞ:
M ð 1 ; . . . ; NÞ ¼ V
CKG1Y
Nj¼1
Z
C
d
2z
jhV
Gð
1; z
1; z
1Þ . . . V
Gð
N; z
N; z
NÞi: (6) Here, the factor V
CKGaccounts for the volume of the con- formal Killing group. One of the key properties of graviton amplitudes in string theory is that at tree level they can be expressed as sum over squares of (color ordered) gauge amplitudes in the left—and right—moving sectors. This map, known as Kawai-Lewellen-Tye (KLT) relations [16], gives a relation between a closed string tree-level amplitude on the sphere and a sum of squares of (partial ordered) open string disk amplitudes. On the string world sheet of the sphere describing the N-graviton amplitude (6) the KLT relations are a consequence of decoupling holomorphic and antiholomorphic sectors by splitting the complex sphere integration over the coordinates z, z 2 C into two real ones , 2 R describing products of two open string disk amplitudes. At the level of degrees of freedom this is anticipated from the fact, that the graviton vertex operator V
Gsplits into a product of noninteracting open string states describing the vertex operator of massless vectors V
g, i.e., V
Gð ; z; zÞ ’ V
gð ; ÞV
gð ; Þ, subject to the decomposi- tion of polarization tensors
¼
. In the graviton amplitude (6) the latter comprises into the linearized Riemann tensor R
¼ k
½k
½.
For the two cases N ¼ 5 , 6, which we shall consider in the sequel, we have the following relations [with M ð 1 ; . . . ; NÞ ¼ ð
2Þ
N2Mð 1 . . . NÞ] [16]:
Mð 12 345 Þ ¼ ð 2
0Þ
2sin ðs
12Þ
sin ðs
34Þ Að 12 345 ÞAð 21 435 Þ þ ð 23 Þ; (7) Mð 123 456 Þ ¼ ð 2
0Þ
3sin ðs
12Þ sin ðs
45Þ Að 123 456 Þ
f sin ðs
35ÞAð 215 346 Þ þ sin ½ðs
34þ s
35Þ Að 215 436 Þg þ ð 234 Þ: (8) The KLT relations (7) and (8), hold for any superstring background and are insensitive to the compactification details or the amount of supersymmetries. The gluon am- plitudes Að 1 . . . NÞ are the color-ordered subamplitudes of the underlying gauge theory. Hence, in superstring theory the tree-level computation of graviton amplitudes boils down to considering squares of tree-level gauge amplitudes A. For this sector explicit computations have been per- formed and results are accessible for the cases N ¼ 4 [5,17], N ¼ 5 [18–21], N ¼ 6 [19–22], and N ¼ 7 [23].
Moreover, through the order
02the full N-gluon MHV amplitude is given in [20,21], while the order
03has been constructed in [24]. Based on all these results and the relations (7) and (8), the five- and six-graviton amplitudes can be derived.
The result for the five-gluon subamplitude can be given for any space-time dimension D in the form [25]
Að 12 345 Þ ¼ C
1A
YMð 12 345 Þ þ C
2A
F4ð 12 345 Þ; (9) with the kinematical factors encoding the pure Yang-Mills (YM) part A
YMð 12 345 Þ and the genuine string part A
F4ð 12 345 Þ
A
F4ð 12 345 Þ ¼ ð 2
0Þ
2fKð
1;
2;
3; k
3;
4; k
4;
5; k
5Þ þ ðk
1k
2Þ
1½ð
1 2ÞKðk
1; k
2;
3; k
3;
4; k
4;
5; k
5Þ þ ð
1k
2ÞKð
2; k
1þ k
2;
3; k
3;
4; k
4;
5; k
5Þ ð
2k
1ÞKð
1; k
1þ k
2;
3; k
3;
4; k
4;
5; k
5Þ
þ cyclic permutationsg; with : Kð
1; k
1;
2; k
2;
3; k
3;
4; k
4Þ ¼ t
81...8 11k
12. . .
47k
48: (10) Furthermore, we have the two (basis) functions
C
1¼ s
2s
5f
1þ ðs
2s
3þ s
4s
5Þf
2; C
2¼ f
2; (11) defined by the two hypergeometric functions
3F
2:
f
1¼ Z
1 0dx Z
10
dy I ðx; yÞðxyÞ
1; f
2¼ Z
10
dx Z
10
dy I ðx; yÞð 1 xyÞ
1;
(12)
with I ðx; yÞ ¼ x
s2y
s5ð 1 xÞ
s3ð 1 yÞ
s4ð 1 xyÞ
s35. In D ¼ 4 spinor notation the expressions in (9) boil down to the maximally helicity-violating YM five-point partial ampli- tude [26,27]
A
YMð 1
2
3
þ4
þ5
þÞ ¼ i h 12 i
4h 12 ih 23 ih 34 ih 45 ih 51 i ; (13)
and to the term
A
F4ð 1
2
3
þ4
þ5
þÞ ¼
02ðh 12 i½ 23 h 34 i½ 41 f 3 ; 4 gf 4 ; 5 g f 1 ; 2 gf 1 ; 5 gÞ
A
YMð 1
2
3
þ4
þ5
þÞ (14) describing the leading string correction to the YM ampli- tude (13). In the effective action (14) gives rise to the contact term t
8F
4t
811...44F
11F
22F
33F
44with the field strength F
.
Using in (7) the expression (9) yields the full five- graviton amplitude. Its
0expansion is determined by expanding the basis (12), which is achieved with [28]. In the D ¼ 4 field theory limit, with f
1!
0!0 1s2s5
and f
2!
0!00 , the only independent five graviton amplitude reduces to [9]
PRL 106, 111601 (2011) P H Y S I C A L R E V I E W L E T T E R S
week ending 18 MARCH 2011111601-2
Mð 1
2
3
þ4
þ5
þÞj
00¼ 4 i h 12 i
8Nð 5 Þ ð 1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4 Þ; (15) with 4 i ð 1 ; 2 ; 3 ; 4 Þ ¼ ½ 12 h 23 i½ 34 h 41 i h 12 i½ 23 h 34 i
½ 41 . Through the order
08we find for any dimension D Mð 12 345 Þj
02¼ 0 ; Mð 12 345 Þj
04¼ 0 ; Mð 12 345 Þj
0n¼ ðnÞmð 12 345 Þj
ðnÞþ ð 23 Þ; n ¼ 3 ; 5 ; 7 ; Mð 12 345 Þj
06¼ ð 3 Þ
2mð 12 345 Þj
ð3Þ2þ ð 3 Þ
2s ^
12s ^
34ð C
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4Þj
ð3ÞðC
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4Þj
ð3Þþ ð 23 Þ;
Mð 12 345 Þj
08¼ ð 3 Þð 5 Þmð 12 345 Þj
ð3Þð5Þþ ð 3 Þð 5 Þ s ^
12s ^
34½ð C
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4Þj
ð3ÞðC
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4Þj
ð5Þþ ð C
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4Þj
ð5ÞðC
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4Þj
ð3Þþ ð 23 Þ: (16) Above we have introduced [ s ^
ij¼ ð 2
0Þ
1s
ij]
mð 12 345 Þ ¼ s ^
12s ^
34½ð C
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4ÞA
YMþ A
YMðC
1A
YMþ C
2A
F4Þ: (17) Let us now discuss the implications of the results (16). In [29–31] the four-graviton amplitude has been analyzed, resulting in a series of higher order terms t
8t
8D
2mR
4, which enter Eq. (4) with zeta functions shown in the first column of Table I. The (on-shell) four-graviton amplitude does not contain the momentum terms corresponding to D
2R
4[32].
The only possible Feynman diagrams contributing at the order
03þm, m 0 to the five-graviton amplitude are displayed in Fig. 1. For m ¼ 0 the above diagrams simply reproduce the
03order of the five-graviton amplitude involving the R
4term. Any D
2R
4term can always be rewritten as a sum of R
5terms due to the relation D
2R ’ R
2. Hence, for m ¼ 1 only the five vertex [right diagram in Fig. 1] stemming from an R
5term may contribute at the order
04to the five-graviton amplitude. Since the latter vanishes at this order, cf. (16), we conclude that an R
5term does not exist. At higher orders
03þm; m 2 both D
2m2R
5and D
2mR
4terms may contribute in Fig. 1. The
0expansion of the five-graviton amplitude does not show ð 2 Þ ð 3 Þ terms at
05, ð 6 Þ terms at
06, ð 3 Þð 4 Þ nor ð 2 Þ ð 5 Þ terms at
07, and not any ð 8 Þ, ð 2 Þ ð 3 Þ
2, and
ð 5 ; 3 Þ terms at
08, cf. Eq. (16). Since those terms cannot be generated by any reducible diagram with five external gravitons, we conclude the absence of contact interactions with coefficients
05ð 2 Þ ð 3 Þ,
06ð 6 Þ,
07ð 3 Þ ð 4 Þ,
07ð 2 Þð 5 Þ, and
08ð 8 Þ,
08ð 2 Þð 3 Þ
2,
08ð 5 ; 3 Þ, respec- tively, cf. second column of Table I. On the other hand, the non-vanishing terms (16), which are proportional to
05ð 5 Þ;
06ð 3 Þ
2,
07ð 7 Þ, and
08ð 3 Þ ð 5 Þ, respectively, account for the two diagrams in Fig. 1. After subtracting the contribution of the left diagram, the remaining terms give rise to combinations of the interactions D
4R
4, D
2R
5at
05, combinations of D
6R
4, D
4R
5at
06, D
8R
4, D
6R
5at
07, and D
10R
4, D
8R
5terms at
08, respectively.
Next, we consider the scattering of six gravitons. The result for the six-gluon subamplitude is given for any space-time dimension D in [19], while in D ¼ 4 spinor notation in [20–22]. Using these expressions in (8) yields the six-graviton amplitude. The
0expansion of this am- plitude gives vanishing results at the orders
02and
04Mð 123 456 Þj
02¼ 0; Mð 123 456 Þj
04¼ 0: (18) The order
03is proportional to ð 3 Þ and describes dia- grams involving vertices from the R
4coupling. Moreover, through the order
08we find the following properties:
Mð 123 456 Þj
ð2Þð3Þ05¼ 0 ; Mð 123 456 Þj
ð6Þ06¼ 0 ; Mð 123 456 Þj
ð2Þð5Þ07¼ 0 ; Mð 123 456 Þj
ð3Þð4Þ07¼ 0 ; Mð 123 456 Þj
ð8Þ08¼ 0; Mð 123 456 Þj
ð2Þð3Þ208¼ 0;
Mð 123 456 Þj
ð5;3Þ08¼ 0 : (19) Together with the previous results the findings (19) restrict the contact interactions at
05to be of the form ð 5 Þ fD
4R
4; D
2R
5; R
6g, but forbids any ð 2 Þ ð 3 Þ contact terms at this order. Similarly, contact interaction at
06may assume the form ð 3 Þ
2fD
6R
4; D
4R
5; D
2R
6g, but no interactions with ð 6 Þ factors are possible. At this order also a reducible TABLE I. Tree-level higher order gravitational couplings and
their corresponding zeta value coefficients probed by the
N-graviton superstring amplitude. Vanishing terms are crossedout. Those terms, which have not yet been probed by the relevant
N-graviton amplitude, are marked by a question mark.N¼4 N¼5 N¼6 N¼7 N¼8 03ð3Þ R4
04ð4Þ D2R4 R5
05ð5Þ D4R4 D2R5 R6 05ð2Þð3Þ D4R4 D2R5 R6
06ð3Þ2 D6R4 D4R5 D2R6 R7? 06ð6Þ D6R4 D4R5 D2R6 R7?
07ð7Þ D8R4 D6R5 D4R6 D2R7? R8? 07ð3Þð4Þ D8R4 D6R5 D4R6 D2R7? R8? 07ð2Þð5Þ D8R4 D6R5 D4R6 D2R7? R8? 08ð3Þð5Þ D10R4 D8R5 D6R6 D4R7? D2R8? 08ð8Þ D10R4 D8R5 D6R6 D4R7? D2R8? 08ð2Þð3Þ2 D10R4 D8R5 D6R6 D4R7? D2R8?
08ð5;3Þ D10R4 D8R5 D6R6 D4R7? D2R8?
FIG. 1. Diagrams contributing at the order
03þmto the five- graviton amplitude.
PRL 106, 111601 (2011) P H Y S I C A L R E V I E W L E T T E R S
week ending 18 MARCH 2011111601-3
diagram describing the exchange of a graviton between two four vertices of ð 3 ÞR
4contributes. At the order
07only contact terms of the form ð 7 ÞfD
8R
4; D
6R
5; D
4R
6g may appear. However, no contact interactions with ð 3 Þ ð 4 Þ nor ð 2 Þ ð 5 Þ factors exist at this order in
0. Eventually, at
08only contact terms of the form ð 3 Þ ð 5 Þ fD
10R
4; D
8R
5; D
6R
6g may appear. However, no contact in- teractions with ð 8 Þ; ð 2 Þ ð 3 Þ
2nor ð 5 ; 3 Þ factors exist at
08. What remains to be checked is how for a given order in
0the set of contact interactions belonging to one row of Table I can be expressed by a minimal basis of terms. The latter may allow us to reduce the number of Riemann tensors R by converting them into derivatives D
2, cf. the comment [10].
The results presented here and summarized in Table I hold for any type I or II superstring compactification in D space-time dimensions with eight or more supercharges and suggest that higher order gravitational couplings (4) obey some refined transcendentality properties: at each order in
0only Riemann zeta functions of odd weight or products thereof appear. While for the first column this is obvious to all orders in
0as a result of the relation (5), for the second and third column we have checked this state- ment up to the order
08. Hence, for n 6 and up to order
08the sum (4) runs only over basis elements comprised by MZVs of odd weights [13]. The absence of the MZV ð 5 ; 3 Þ at the order
08fits into this criterion, since it may be written as ð 5 ; 3 Þ ¼
52ð 6 ; 2 Þ
2125ð 2 Þ
4þ 5 ð 3 Þð 5 Þ.
For D ¼ 10 type IIB superstring theory, our findings together with the one-loop results [33] restrict the ring of possible modular forms describing the perturbative and nonperturbative completion of the higher order terms.
Our amplitude results, summarized in Table I, have an impact on the recently discussed finiteness of N ¼ 8 supergravity in D ¼ 4 . Counterterms invariant under N ¼ 8 supergravity have an unique kinematic structure and the tree-level string amplitudes provide candidates for them, which are compatible with supersymmetry Ward identities and locality. The absence or restriction on higher order gravitational terms at the order
0ltogether with their symmetries constrain the appearance of possible counter- terms available at l loop; see [34] for a review and refer- ences therein.
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D2R’R2some derivative terms may be converted to terms with fewer derivatives at the cost of higher orders in the Riemann tensor. Therefore, we stick to the prescription to write all terms with the highest possible number of Riemann tensors.
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[12] The set of integral linear combinations of MZVs is a ring, since the product of any two values can be expressed by a (positive) integer linear combination of the other MZVs [11], e.g.:
ðmÞðnÞ ¼ðm; nÞ þðn; mÞ þðmþnÞ(quasishuffle or stuffle relation).
[13] There are many relations over
Qamong MZVs, e.g.,
ð4;1Þ ¼2ð5Þ ð2Þð3Þ. For a given weight w2Nthe dimension
dwof the space spanned by MZVs of weight
wis given by
dw¼dw2þdw3(d
1¼0,d2¼ d3¼d4¼1,
d5¼2,
d6¼2,
d7¼3,
d8¼4,
d9¼5,
d10¼7;. . .) [11] and can be constructed by the following basis: for
w¼2by
ð2Þ, forw¼3by
ð3Þ, forw¼4by
ð2Þ2, for
w¼5by
ð5Þ,ð2Þð3Þ, for w¼6by
ð2Þ3,
ð3Þ2, for
w¼7by
ð7Þ,ð2Þð5Þ,ð3Þð2Þ2, for
w¼8by
ð2Þ4,
ð2Þð3Þ2,
ð3Þð5Þ,ð5;3Þ, forw¼9by
ð9Þ, ð7Þð2Þ, ð5Þð2Þ2,
ð3Þ3,
ð3Þð2Þ3, for
w¼10by
ð7;3Þ, ð5;3Þð2Þ, ð7Þð3Þ, ð5Þ2,
ð5Þð3Þð2Þ, ð3Þ2ð2Þ2,
ð2Þ5, etc.
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181,582(2010).
[15] To probe the order
0l1the alternative
-model approachrequires an
l-loop calculation of thefunctions.
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