A Pure Spinor Twistor Description of Ambitwistor Strings

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new ten-dimensional pure spinor twistor framework for ambitwistor strings, connecting Berkovits' formalism with scattering equations and extending to supergravity.

Contribution

It develops a novel pure spinor twistor description of ambitwistor strings in ten dimensions, linking it to super-Yang-Mills and supergravity scattering amplitudes.

Findings

Vertex operators explicitly constructed

Scattering amplitudes match super-Yang-Mills interactions

Framework extends to Type IIB supergravity

Abstract

We present a novel ten-dimensional description of ambitwistor strings. This formulation is based on a set of supertwistor variables involving pure spinors and a set of constraints previously introduced in the context of the $D=10$ superparticle following a ten-dimensional twistor-like construction introduced by Berkovits. We perform a detailed quantum-mechanical analysis of the constraint algebra, we show that the corresponding central charges vanish, and after considering a convenient gauge fixing procedure, physical states are found. Vertex operators are explicitly constructed and, by noticing a relation with the standard pure spinor formalism, scattering amplitudes are shown to correctly describe $D=10$ super-Yang-Mills interactions. As in other ambitwistor string models, amplitudes are found to be localized on the support of the scattering equations, and thus this work provides a bridge between Berkovits' construction and the Cachazo-He-Yuan formulae. After extending the pure spinor twistor transform to include an additional supersymmetry, our results are immediately generalized to Type IIB supergravity.