Relationship Between Gravity and Gauge Scattering in the High Energy Limit

TL;DR

This paper explores the relationship between gravity and gauge theory scattering amplitudes at high energies, revealing a double copy relation that connects classical shockwaves and quantum amplitudes under specific diagrammatic conditions.

Contribution

It demonstrates a loop-level double copy relation between graviton and gluon scattering amplitudes in the high-energy limit, conditioned on collinear divergence cancellation in gauge diagrams.

Findings

Double copy relation holds at all loop orders under specific diagrammatic conditions.

Classical shockwaves in gravity and gauge theories are related through the double copy.

The relation is consistent with field theoretic methods and diagrammatic analysis.

Abstract

Investigations of high-energy graviton-graviton and gluon-gluon scattering are performed in the leading eikonal approximation for the kinematic regime of large center of mass energy and low momentum transfer. We find a double copy relation between the amplitudes of the two theories to all loop orders when, on the gauge theory side, we retain only the set of diagrams at each loop order for which the collinear divergences cancel amongst themselves. For this to happen the color structure of all diagrams in the set must be identical. Using standard field theoretic methods, it is shown that this relation is reflected in a similar double copy relationship between the classical shockwaves of the two theories as well.