Orbital Precession and Hidden Symmetries in Scalar-Tensor Theories

TL;DR

This paper explores the connection between orbital precession, hidden symmetries, and scattering amplitudes in scalar-tensor theories of gravity, revealing conditions for symmetry emergence and implications for black hole scattering in supergravity.

Contribution

It computes second Post-Minkowskian order precession in scalar-tensor theories and links symmetry conditions to amplitude behaviors, extending understanding of classical orbits and scattering.

Findings

Precession vanishes at specific conformal coupling tuning.

Emergence of Laplace-Runge-Lenz symmetry at leading PN order.

Supersymmetric extensions exhibit exact symmetry at all PN orders.

Abstract

We revisit the connection between relativistic orbital precession, the Laplace-Runge-Lenz symmetry, and the $t$-channel discontinuity of scattering amplitudes. Applying this to scalar-tensor theories of gravity, we compute the conservative potential and orbital precession induced by both conformal/disformal-type couplings at second Post-Minkowskian order ($\mathcal{O} \left( G_N^2 \right)$), complementing the known third/first order Post-Newtonian results. There is a particular tuning of the conformal coupling for which the precession vanishes at leading PN order, and we show that this coincides with the emergence of a Laplace-Runge-Lenz symmetry and a corresponding soft behaviour of the amplitude. While a single scalar field inevitably breaks this symmetry at higher PN orders, certain supersymmetric extensions have recently been shown to have an exact Laplace-Runge-Lenz symmetry and therefore classical orbits do not precess at any PN order. This symmetry can be used to relate scattering amplitudes at different loop orders, and we show how this may be used to bootstrap the (classically relevant part of the) three-loop $2 \to 2$ scattering of charged black holes in $\mathcal{N}=8$ supergravity from existing two-loop calculations.