Credit: Grant Remmen

By Amal Pushp, Affiliate Physicist at the Resonance Science Foundation

Scattering amplitudes are a quantum field theoretic concept that allows the computation and representation of various scattering processes involved in particle physics. It is basically a probability amplitude, an entirely mathematical concept, that aids the description of elementary particles and their associated physical systems. This highly rigorous technique is being utilized as a research tool in various subfields of theoretical physics like Yang-Mills theory, Chern-Simons theory, Supergravity (SUGRA), etc.

Conventionally, such computations have been probed using Feynman diagrams, however, it has a limited range of applicability and that’s where scattering amplitudes come in and express their overarching role. For instance, to describe the interactions of fundamental particles, one would have to manually fit thousands of Feynman diagrams into the computer which would make the...