Loop Integrands for Scattering Amplitudes from the Riemann Sphere

The scattering equations on the Riemann sphere give rise to remarkable formulas for tree-level gauge theory and gravity amplitudes. Adamo, Casali, and Skinner conjectured a one-loop formula for supergravity amplitudes based on scattering equations on a torus. We use a residue theorem to transform this into a formula on the Riemann sphere. What emerges is a framework for loop integrands on the Riemann sphere that promises to have a wide application, based on off-shell scattering equations that depend on the loop momentum. We present new formulas, checked explicitly at low points, for supergravity and super-Yang-Mills amplitudes and for $n$-gon integrands at one loop. Finally, we show that the off-shell scattering equations naturally extend to arbitrary loop order, and we give a proposal for the all-loop integrands for supergravity and planar super-Yang-Mills theory.

Figure 1

Contour argument in the fundamental domain.