Motivic Amplitudes and Cluster Coordinates

TL;DR

This paper explores the mathematical structure of motivic amplitudes in planar SYM theory, revealing their dependence on cluster coordinates and uncovering new relations with associahedra and polylogarithm identities.

Contribution

It demonstrates that motivic amplitudes are governed by cluster structures on configuration spaces and provides explicit computations and new functional equations involving cluster coordinates.

Findings

Explicit computation of the coproduct of the two-loop seven-particle MHV motivic amplitude.

Dependence of motivic amplitudes on cluster X-coordinates.

First known functional equation for the trilogarithm with all arguments as cluster X-coordinates.

Abstract

In this paper we study motivic amplitudes--objects which contain all of the essential mathematical content of scattering amplitudes in planar SYM theory in a completely canonical way, free from the ambiguities inherent in any attempt to choose particular functional representatives. We find that the cluster structure on the kinematic configuration space Conf_n(P^3) underlies the structure of motivic amplitudes. Specifically, we compute explicitly the coproduct of the two-loop seven-particle MHV motivic amplitude A_{7,2} and find that like the previously known six-particle amplitude, it depends only on certain preferred coordinates known in the mathematics literature as cluster X-coordinates on Conf_n(P^3). We also find intriguing relations between motivic amplitudes and the geometry of generalized associahedrons, to which cluster coordinates have a natural combinatoric connection. For example, the obstruction to A_{7,2} being expressible in terms of classical polylogarithms is most naturally represented by certain quadrilateral faces of the appropriate associahedron. We also find and prove the first known functional equation for the trilogarithm in which all 40 arguments are cluster X-coordinates of a single algebra. In this respect it is similar to Abel's 5-term dilogarithm identity.