A Note on High-Energy Scattering of Open Superstrings

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the high-energy behavior of one-loop open superstring scattering amplitudes, providing exact coefficients for the exponential falloff in the hard scattering limit without saddle point approximations.

Contribution

It offers a novel exact calculation of the scattering amplitude coefficient in the hard scattering limit, bypassing saddle point issues and confirming consistency with Regge behavior.

Findings

Exact coefficient for exponential falloff in hard scattering

Agreement between hard scattering and Regge limits

Simplified computation of small-angle scattering behavior

Abstract

We study the Regge and hard scattering limits of the one-loop amplitude for massless open string states in the type I theory. For hard scattering we find the exact coefficient multiplying the known exponential falloff in terms of the scattering angle, without relying on a saddle point approximation for the integration over the cross ratio. This bypasses the issues of estimating the contributions from flat directions, as well as those that arise from fluctuations of the gaussian integration about a saddle point. This result allows for a straightforward computation of the small- angle behavior of the hard scattering regime and we find complete agreement with the Regge limit at high momentum transfer, as expected.