Towards a Worldsheet Description of N=8 Supergravity

TL;DR

This paper proposes a worldsheet framework for N=8 supergravity using ambitwistors, extending tree-level amplitude methods to genus-one, ensuring consistency with known properties like modular invariance and infrared behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a genus-one amplitude definition for N=8 supergravity within the ambitwistor string approach, advancing the understanding of supergravity from a worldsheet perspective.

Findings

Proposed a genus-one amplitude construction consistent with supergravity properties.

Demonstrated modular invariance of the proposed amplitudes.

Reproduced expected infrared behavior of 1-loop supergravity amplitudes.

Abstract

In this note we address the worldsheet description of 4-dimensional N=8 supergravity using ambitwistors. After gauging an appropriate current algebra, we argue that the only physical vertex operators correspond to the N=8 supermultiplet. It has previously been shown that worldsheet correlators give rise to supergravity tree level scattering amplitudes. We extend this work by proposing a definition for genus-one amplitudes that passes several consistency checks such as exhibiting modular invariance and reproducing the expected infrared behavior of 1-loop supergravity amplitudes.