Energy Correlators in Perturbative Quantum Gravity

TL;DR

This paper introduces and computes correlation functions of detector operators in perturbative quantum gravity, revealing their behavior in various kinematic limits and opening new avenues for understanding asymptotic observables.

Contribution

It pioneers the study of detector operator correlation functions in perturbative quantum gravity and demonstrates how to compute them using scattering amplitude data.

Findings

Correlator is finite in collinear limit.

Exhibits soft divergence in back-to-back limit.

Provides a framework for future exploration of asymptotic observables.

Abstract

Despite tremendous progress in our understanding of scattering amplitudes in perturbative (super-) gravity, much less is known about other asymptotic observables, such as correlation functions of detector operators. In this paper, we initiate the study of detector operators and their correlation functions in perturbative quantum gravity. Inspired by recent progress in field theory, we introduce a broad class of new asymptotic observables in gravity. We outline how correlation functions of detector operators can be efficiently computed from squared, state-summed amplitudes, allowing us to harness the wealth of perturbative scattering amplitude data to explore these observables. We then compute the two-point correlator of energy detectors in the annihilation of two scalars into gravitons, in Einstein gravity minimally coupled to a massive scalar field. We study the kinematic limits of this correlator, finding that it is finite in the collinear limit, and exhibits a soft divergence in the back-to-back limit, as expected from the understanding of the factorization of gravitational amplitudes in the soft and collinear limits. Our results offer a first exploration into the structure of detector operators and their correlators in perturbative quantum gravity, and we outline numerous directions for future study.