Scattering Amplitudes as Volumes of Polytopes in

Twistor Space
Zhen Bi, Alex Wickes
May 27, 2013

This is a study note for twistor theory.

The references of the note include:
Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, by A. Zee
Einstein Gravity in a Nutshell, by A. Zee
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0412308
http://arxiv.org/abs/0905.1473
http://arxiv.org/abs/1012.6030

Contents
1 BCFW Result of Split-Helicity NMHV Amplitude 2
1.1 Review of BCFW Recursion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Explicit Results of 6-gluon Scattering Using BCFW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Momentum-twistor Coordinates 4
2.1 A Theorem: The Construction of Momentum-twistor Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Useful Identities in Momentum-twistor Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Simplified Results of 6-gluon Scattering Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 Scattering Amplitude as Volume in the Dual Twistor Space 7

3.1 Observation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.2 Projective Volume as Contour Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 Generalization to More-gluon Split-helicity NMHV Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

A Details on 6-gluon Scattering Amplitude 10

B Proof of Some of the Identities 10

1
1 BCFW Result of Split-Helicity NMHV Amplitude
We are focusing on the color-stripped amplitude A(1− 2− 3− 4+ 5+ 6+ ). This helicity distribution is called
‘split-helicity’ distribution because + and − helicities are split into two halves.
In the following discussion we use the notation

p1 · p2 = h12i [12] (1)

which is the standard notation we used in class (in some other literature they use 2p1 · p2 = h12i [21]), and
we assume p and q are outgoing (if one of them is incoming, there will be a minus sign in front).

1.1 Review of BCFW Recursion

We consider n-gluon scattering with any helicity distribution. Without loss of generality we take the (n−1)st
gluon to have negetive helicity and nth gluon to have positive helicity. (Because we know all positive or all
negetive scattering must vanish.) Consider all particles to be outgoing.
Then the scattering amplitude can be written as
n−3
X X h 1 (−h)
An (1, 2, . . . , (n − 1)− , n+ ) = − Ai+2 (n(zl ), 1, 2, . . . , −PL (zl )) (2)
i=1 h=+,−
PL (0)2
i
(h)
× An−i (PL (zl ), i + 1, i + 2, . . . , n − 2, n − 1(zl ))

where
PL (0) = pn + p1 + p2 + · · · + pi , (3)
PL2 (0)
zl = , (4)
2q · PL (0)
and
pn (zl ) = pn + zl q, pn−1 (zl ) = pn−1 − zl q, (5)
with overbars denoting the complexified BCFW momenta. Now we find a good choice of q: q = λn−1 λ̃n . We
can easily check pn · q = 0 and pn−1 · q = 0 and obviously q 2 = 0 because it is the product of two spinors.

Figure 1: Pictorial representation of BCFW recursion relation

We can also write the shift in momentum as a shift of spinors which is useful later:

λn−1 = λn−1 λ̃n−1 = λ̃n−1 − zl λ̃n (6)

λn = λn + zl λn−1 λ̃n = λ̃n . (7)

2
It’s also useful to introduce some notation:
[r] 1
Si = (pi + pi+1 + · · · + pi+r−1 )2 , (8)
2
X X
hi| pr |j] = hiri[rj]. (9)
r r

Then we can see that

PL (0)2
zl = . (10)
2 hn − 1|PL (0)|n]
There is secretly one minus sign missing, but recall PL is incoming and q is outgoing so there will be a minus
sign in front to cancel the minus sign from the reordering.
Due to the choice of q, we have some identities:

h? PL (zl )i [PL (zl ) n] = h?|PL (0)|n] (11)

h(n − 1)PL (zl )i [PL (zl ) ?] = hn − 1|PL (0)|?] (12)

where ? can be any particle. From (11) and (12) we find

h?|PL (0)|n]
h? PL (zl )i = (13)
[PL (zl ) n]

hn − 1|PL (0)|?]
[PL (zl ) ?] = (14)
h(n − 1)PL (zl )i
which turn out to be useful in simplifying the results.

1.2 Explicit Results of 6-gluon Scattering Using BCFW

Figure 2: Diagrams contributing to six gluon scattering amplitude

For A(1− 2− 3− 4+ 5+ 6+ ) we choose to perform the recursion on 3 and 4. Then all the possible diagrams
contributing to the scattering amplitude are shown in Fig. 2. Notice that the whatever the helicity of the
internal gluon is the diagram Fig. 2(b) is always zero because A(−, +, +, +) = A(+, −, −, −) = 0. So we
only have two diagrams to calculate.

3
 Diagram (a) is given by

3 3
23 1 h1PL (zl )i
Aa =


 (15)
3PL (zl ) hPL (zl )2i S2[2] PL (zl )4 45 h56i h61i

Using equations (6)-(14), we can get (details in Appendix A)

3
h1|2 + 3|4]
Aa = [3]
(16)
[23][34] h56i h61i h5|3 + 4|2] S2

Similarly we can calculate the scattering amplitude contributed by diagram (c):

3
h3|4 + 5|6]
Ac = [3]
. (17)
[61][12] h34i h45i h5|3 + 4|2] S3

Then finally the scattering amplitude is:

!
3 3
− − − + + + −1 h1|2 + 3|4] h3|4 + 5|6]
A(1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ) = [3]
+ [3]
(18)
h5|3 + 4|2] [23][34] h56i h61i S2 [61][12] h34i h45i S3

2 Momentum-twistor Coordinates
The expression in the previous section is not very nice and we cannot see any symmetric structure in it. So
we introduce the momentum-twistor coordinates to further simplify the results. To be clear, here we are
working in complexified Minkowski space with complexified momenta.

2.1 A Theorem: The Construction of Momentum-twistor Coordinates

THEOREM : Suppose we have 2n spinors λiα , λ̃iα̇ , for n ≥ 4, such that they satisfy:
n
X
λiα λ̃iα̇ = 0. (19)
1

We can write piαα̇ = λiα λ̃iα̇ , so the condition above is just momentum conservation. Also we assume for
each i,
λα
i−1 λiα 6= 0, λ̃α̇
i−1 λ̃iα̇ 6= 0, (20)
which is equivalent to
1
[2]
(pi−1 + pi )2 6= 0.
Si−1 = (21)
2
Then there exist n twistors Ziα and n dual twistors Wiα satisfying the following condition for each i: The
second part of Zi is λiα and the first part of Wi is λ̃iα̇ , and
α
Wiα Zi−1 = Wiα Ziα = Wiα Zi+1
α
= 0, (22)
β γ
αβγδ Ziα Zi+1 Zi+2 δ
Zi+3 6= 0. (23)
Furthermore, the set of {Zi , Wi } is unique up to some transformation which we don’t care about right now.
The proof of the theorem is also the construction of the momentum-twistor coordinates.
PROOF : Let X0 be a line in the projective twistor space, corresponding to a finite point x0 in complexified
Minkowski space CM. Then we can specify Z0α and Z1β by the condition that (i) they lie on X0 and (ii)
they have second part λ0 , λ1 respectively. These two points are well-defined and distinct since we have
the non-singularity condition. Now we consider the next point in spacetime defined as x0 + λ1 λ˜1 , with a
corresponding line X1 in the twistor space. We note that Z1 also lies on line X1 , it is the intersection point
of the two lines. The reason is the following:

4
 Z1 on X0 means that µα̇ αα̇
1 = x0 λ1,α . We can check that

µα̇ αα̇ αα̇ α α̇ αα̇

1 = x0 λ1,α = (x0 + λ1 λ̃1 )λ1,α = x1 λ1,α (24)
which means Z1 is also on X1 .
Continuing this process, we define another point Z2 by
Plying on X1 and having second part λ2 . Carrying
k
on in this way, we can define line Xk corresponding x0 + i=1 λi λ̃i intersecting the two points Zk and Zk+1 .
At the end, since we have momentum conservation condition:
n
X
xn = x0 + λi λ̃i = x0 . (25)
i=1

Hence, Xn is just X0 , and the definition of n twistors is complete.

Figure 3: The relationship between region space and the momentum-twistor space

From the construction we know pi = xi − xi−1 and the momentum and the spacetime coordinates form
a so-called region space (Fig. 3, left).
The dual twistors Wiα can be found in the form:
β
αβγδ Zi−1 Ziγ Zi+1
δ
Wiα = µ
λ Z )(I Z ν Z σ )
(26)
(Iλµ Zi−1 i νσ i i+1

where the denominator turns out to be the right scale factor. We can explicit check the first part of W ’s are
the corresponding λ̃’s, but it’s not important here.
We can try to view this relationship geometrically. Equation (22) is crucial to this understanding. The
α
equation Wiα Zi−1 = 0 defines a plane in dual twistor space which is perpendicular to Zi−1 . Similarly, the
other two relationships define two planes in dual twistor space. We can view the resulting dual twistor Wi
as the intersection point of these three planes in dual twistor space. And the three planes are labeled by the
three twistors Zi−1 , Zi and Zi+1 .
There is a more general statement which is also useful. Any point x in Complex Minkowski Space (CM
space) corresponds to two points in the Projective Twistor Space (P T space), say P λ and Qµ . Similarly a
point y in CM space corresponds to two twistors Rν , S σ in PT space. Then the square of x − y is given by
the four twistors like so:
λµνσ P λ Qµ Rν S σ
(x − y)2 = −2 . (27)
(Iλµ P λ Qµ )(Iνσ Rν S σ )

5
2.2 Useful Identities in Momentum-twistor Coordinates
By definition we have
h12i = Iαβ Z1α Z2β , [12] = I αβ W1α W2β . (28)
We define the notation:
h1234i = αβγδ Z1α Z2β Z3γ Z4δ (29)
Applying the definition of W , we can get (see Appendix B for details):

h0123i
[12] = − (30)
h01i h12i h23i

We can also see this from equation (26):

[2] 1 1 h0123i
S1 = (p1 + p2 )2 = (x0 − x2 )2 = − = [12] h12i . (31)
2 2 h01i h23i

Equation (26) gives us more identities:

[r] 1 hi − 1, i, i + r − 1, i + ri
Si = (xi−1 − xi+r−1 )2 = − (32)
2 hi − 1, ii hi + r − 1, i + ri

Also we will need terms like (see proof in Appendix B)

h1235i
h5|3 + 4|2] = − , (33)
h12i h23i

h1345i
h1|2 + 3|4] = − h1|5 + 6|4] = − , (34)
h34i h45i
and finally
h1356i
h3|4 + 5|6] = . (35)
h56i h61i

2.3 Simplified Results of 6-gluon Scattering Amplitude

Plugging in the identities given above, we obtain another expression for the diagrams (a) and (c) of Fig. 2,
3
h12i h23i (−) h12i h23i h34i (−) h23i h34i h45i (−) h1345i (−) h12i h45i 1
Aa = 3 3
h1235i h1234i h2345i h34i h45i h1245i h56i h61i
4 4 3
h12i h23i (−) h1345i
= (36)
h12i h23i h34i h45i h56i h61i h2135i h2134i h2345i h2145i

and
3
h12i h23i (−) h56i h61i h12i (−) h61i h12i h23i h1356i (−) h23i h56i 1
Ac = 3 3
h1235i h5612i h6123i h56i h61i h2356i h34i h45i
4 4 3
h12i h23i h1365i
= . (37)
h12i h23i h34i h45i h56i h61i h2135i h2365i h2136i h2165i

This looks messy, but as a result the 6-gluon split-helicity NMHV scattering amplitude can be written as
4 4
h12i h23i
A(1− 2− 3− 4+ 5+ 6+ ) = (38)
h12i h23i h34i h45i h56i h61i
!
3 3
(−) h1345i (−) h1365i
× −
h2135i h2134i h2345i h2145i h2135i h2365i h2136i h2165i

6
3 Scattering Amplitude as Volume in the Dual Twistor Space
3.1 Observation
Now consider one of the terms in the big parentheses above,
3
(−) h1345i
. (39)
h2135i h2134i h2345i h2145i
We can obtain some interesting results by staring at the expression for a really long time. First look at the
denominator; if we define
αβγδ Ziβ Zjγ Zkδ
Wijk,α = (40)
(Iλµ Ziλ Zjµ )(Iνσ Zjν Zkσ )
then the first term in the denominator can be written

h2135i = (Z2 · W135 ) h13i h35i (41)

The rest of the terms in the denominator can also be written as Z2 dotted with corresponding Wijk .
Keeping this kind of intuition in mind, we can also recognize the numerator is just the contraction of the
four W ’s with the  tensor:
3
(−) h1345i ∼ αβγδ W135,α W134,β W345,γ W145,δ . (42)

Here we ignore the scale factors, but these factors will just cancel out when we consider the whole expression:
3
(−) h1345i αβγδ W135,α W134,β W345,γ W145,δ
= . (43)
h2135i h2134i h2345i h2145i (Z2 · W135 )(Z2 · W134 )(Z2 · W345 )(Z2 · W145 )

The RHS of this equation can be interpreted as the projective volume in CP3 of the tetrahedron T1345
projected along Z2 direction.

W2

W1

W3

the Plane defined by Za

Za

Projected Area

Figure 4: Projected Area in CP 2

To understand the projective volume, we first consider a simpler case, the projective area in CP2 along
a given direction. Suppose W1 , W2 , W3 are three points in C3 , and ZA defines a plane perpendicular to it.
The projective area of the triangle [123] with respect to ZA is given by

1 αβγ W1,α W2,β W3,γ

Area[123] = . (44)
2! (ZA · W1 )(ZA · W2 )(ZA · W3 )
This is the area projected onto the plane defined by ZA from the origin O. The area is a projective invariant,
it doesn’t depend on the scale of the Wi ’s, but it does depend on the projected vector ZA (see Fig. 4).

7
 Similarly, the RHS of equation (43) is the projective area or volume in CP3 , where the boundary of
the volume is a tetrahedron T1345 . Furthermore, the whole term in the parentheses of (38) are really the
projected volume of the polytope
P6 = T1345 − T1365 ≡ T13[46]5 . (45)

Figure 5: The polyhedron P6 = T13[46]5 , with 6 vertices, 9 edges and 5 faces

3.2 Projective Volume as Contour Integral

The projective volume can be written as a contour integral in CP3 ,
3
(−) h1345i 6D3 W
Z
= = 6 Vol(T1345 ) (46)
h2135i h2134i h2345i h2145i T1345 (Z2 · W )4

where the contour is given by the boundary of the tetrahedron T1345 . The projective measure D3 W is defined
by
1
D3 W = αβγδ Wα dWβ dWγ dWδ . (47)
3!
In order to see this clearly, we first do an example by considering the simplest case of a standard
integral over one complex variable z, thought of as a projective integral over CP1 . Let’s introduce a variable
wα = (x, y) in C2 . Consider the projective integral with boundary defined by zaα wα = 0 and zbα wα = 0
Z
Dw
(48)
za ·w=0 (zc · w)2
zb ·w=0

Since this is a projective integral, we can make us of an inhomogeneous choice of coordinates w = (1, z). Then
writing za = (xa , ya ) and zb = (xb , yb ), the boundary can be written as w = (1, −xa /ya ) and w = (1, −xb /yb ),
and furthermore Dw = αβ wα dwβ = dz. Thus the projective integral becomes a contour integral over one
variable,
Z b Z −xb /yb
Dw dz
=
a (zc · w)2 −xa /ya (x c + yc z)2
1 1
= −
yc (xc − (xa /ya )yc ) yc (xc − (xb /yb )yc )
(xa yb − xb ya )
=
(xa yc − xc ya )(xc yb − xb yc )
habi
= (−) (49)
hcai hcbi

8
 The generalization for this formula for the projected volume of an (n − 1)-simplex in CP n is given by

hW1 . . . Wn i
Z
1 1
n
Dn−1 W =
Simplex (ZA · W ) (n − 1)! (ZA · W1 ) · · · (ZA · Wn )
n−1
1 hZ1 . . . Zn i
= , (50)
(n − 1)! hZA Z1 . . . Zn−1 i hZA Z2 . . . Zn i · · · hZA Zn . . . Zn−2 i

where
hW1 . . . Wn i = αβ...δ W1α W2β · · · Wnδ (51)
and similarly for hZ1 . . . Zn i.

3.3 Generalization to More-gluon Split-helicity NMHV Amplitude

In order to complete the picture, we go back to the case of NMHV for five gluons scattering in the split-helicity
case. It’s easy to verify that

[45]4
A(1− , 2− , 3− , 4+ , 5+ ) = (52)
[12][23][34][45][51]
4 4
h12i h23i 6D3 W
Z
= (53)
h12i h23i h34i h45i h51i P5 (Z2 · W )4

where P5 is the tetrahedron T1345 .

We note that from 5 gluons to 6 gluons there are only two differences: (i) the denominator factor
expands from 5 to 6 terms, and (ii) the new polytope is the sum of the polyhedron for A(1− 2− 3− 4+ 5+ ) and
the polytope for A(1− 2− 3− 5+ 6+ ).
Thus the obvious generalization for the NMHV amplitude for n gluon scattering is
4 4
h12i h23i 6D3 W
Z
A(1− 2− 3− 4+ 5+ . . . n+ ) = (54)
h12i h23i h34i . . . hn1i Pn (Z2 · W )4

where the polyhedron Pn is defined as

n−1
X
Pn = Pn−1 + T13(n−1)n = T13i(i+1) . (55)
i=4

9
Appendix
A Details on 6-gluon Scattering Amplitude
Consider the first diagram (a),
3

3
23 1 h1PL (zl )i
Aa =


 . (56)
3PL (zl ) hPL (zl )2i S2[2] PL (zl )4 45 h56i h61i

We have
PL (0) = p1 + p4 + p5 + p6 = −(p2 + p3 ), (57)
2
(p2 + p3 ) [23]
λ3 = λ3 , λ4 = λ4 + λ3 = λ4 + λ3 , (58)
2 h3| − (p2 + p3 )|4] [24]
and also
h?|PL (0)|4]
h? PL (zl )i = (59)
[PL (zl ) 4]
Then we are all set, just plug in all the identities:

3 h1|2+3|4]3
h23i 1 [PL (zl ) 4]3
Aa = h3|2+3|4] h2|2+3|4] h23i [23] h4|2+3|4]
[PL (zl ) 4] (−) [PL (zl ) 4]
[23]
(−) [PL (zl ) 4] (h45i + [24] h35i) h56i h61i
3 3
h23i 1 h1|2 + 3|4]
=
h32i [24] h23i [34] h23i [23] 4|2 + 3|4 (h45i + [23] h35i) h56i h61i


[24]
3 3
h23i 1 h1|2 + 3|4]
= [23]
h32i h23i [34] h23i [23] (h42i [24] + h43i [34] + h32i [24])(h45i [24] + [23] h35i) h56i h61i
[24]
3
1 h1|2 + 3|4]
=
[23][34] (−)(h42i [24] + h43i [34] + h32i [23]) h5|3 + 4|2] h56i h61i
3
1 h1|2 + 3|4]
=
[23][34] S [3] h5|3 + 4|2] h56i h61i
2
3
h1|2 + 3|4]
= [3]
(60)
h5|3 + 4|2] [23][34] h56i h61i S2

In the same way we can get Ac .

B Proof of Some of the Identities

There are two important identities we need know:

µνρσ αβγσ = − δαµ δβν δγρ − δβµ δγν δαρ − δγµ δαν δβρ
+ δβµ δαν δγρ + δαµ δγν δβρ + δγµ δβν δαρ (61)

and
1 αβγδ
I αβ =  Iγδ . (62)
2

10
Then we are all set. First we have [i, i + 1],
[i, i + 1] = I αβ Wiα W(i+1)β
a f
αabc Zi−1 Zib Zi+1
c
I αβ βdef Zid Zi+1
e
Zi+2
=
hi − 1, ii hi, i + 1i hi, i + 1i hi + 1, i + 2i
a c 1 αβpq f
αabc Zi−1 Zib Zi+1 2 Ipq βdef Zid Zi+1
e
Zi+2
=
hi − 1, ii hi, i + 1i hi, i + 1i hi + 1, i + 2i
−1 a b c αpqβ f
2 Ipq αabc Zi−1 Zi Zi+1  def β Zid Zi+1
e
Zi+2
=
hi − 1, ii hi, i + 1i hi, i + 1i hi + 1, i + 2i
f p q f
−1 a b c
2 (−f abc Zi+1 Zi−1 Zi Zi+1 Ipq Zi Zi+1 + f abc Zi+1 a
Zi−1 Zib Zi+1
c
Ipq Ziq Zi+1
p
)
=
hi − 1, ii hi, i + 1i hi, i + 1i hi + 1, i + 2i
hi + 2, i − 1, i, i + 1i hi, i + 1i
=
hi − 1, ii hi, i + 1i hi, i + 1i hi + 1, i + 2i
hi − 1, i, i + 1, i + 2i
=− . (63)
hi − 1, ii hi, i + 1i hi + 1, i + 2i
We also used the fact that if any two indices in angle brackets are identical the whole bracket will be zero
due to the anti-symmetric property of the  tensor.
Let’s also work out the h5|3 + 4|2],
h5|3 + 4|2] = h53i [32] + h54i [42]
h1234i
= − h35i + h45i [24]. (64)
h12i h23i h34i
Now let’s calculate [24] using the definition of the dual twistors:
[24] = I αβ W2α W4β
αabc Z1a Z2b Z3c I αβ βdef Z3d Z4e Z5f
=
h12i h23i h34i h45i
−1 a b c αpqβ
2 Ipq αabc Z1 Z2 Z3  def β Z3d Z4e Z5f
=
h12i h23i h34i h45i
−1
2 (− h4123i h53i+ h4123i h35i − h5123i h34i + h5123i h43i)
=
h12i h23i h34i h45i
h1234i h35i − h1235i h34i
= . (65)
h12i h23i h34i h45i
Then plug in to (64) and we have
h1235i
h5|3 + 4|2] = − . (66)
h12i h23i
Similarly we can work out
h1356i
h3|4 + 5|6] = , (67)
h56i h61i
but h1|2 + 3|4] requires more work. By momentum conservation we have
h1|2 + 3|4] = h1| − 1 − 4 − 5 − 6|4] (68)
= − h1|5 + 6|4] (69)
and
h1|2 + 3|4] = −(h15i [54] + h16i [64])
h3456i
= − h15i + h16i [46]. (70)
h34i h45i h56i

11
Then using the definition of W we have

[46] = I αβ W4α W6β

αabc Z3a Z4b Z5c I αβ βdef Z5d Z6e Z1f
=
h34i h45i h56i h61i
−1 a b c αpqβ
2 Ipq αabc Z3 Z4 Z5  def β Z5d Z6e Z1f
=
h34i h45i h56i h61i
−1
2 (− h6345i h15i+ h6345i h51i − h1345i h56i + h1345i h65i)
=
h34i h45i h56i h61i
− h3456i h15i + h1345i h56i
= . (71)
h34i h45i h56i h61i

Finally we obtain
h1345i
h1|2 + 3|4] = − h1|5 + 6|4] = − . (72)
h34i h45i

12