The double copy: gravity from gluons
Abstract
Three of the four fundamental forces in nature are described by so-called gauge theories, which include the effects of both relativity and quantum mechanics. Gravity, on the other hand, is described by General Relativity, and the lack of a well-behaved quantum theory - believed to be relevant at the centre of black holes, and at the Big Bang itself - remains a notorious unsolved problem. Recently a new correspondence, the double copy, has been discovered between scattering amplitudes (quantities related to the probability for particles to interact) in gravity, and their gauge theory counterparts. This has subsequently been extended to other quantities, providing gauge theory analogues of e.g. black holes. We here review current research on the double copy, and describe some possible applications.
- Publication:
-
Contemporary Physics
- Pub Date:
- April 2018
- DOI:
- 10.1080/00107514.2017.1415725
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1708.07056
- Bibcode:
- 2018ConPh..59..109W
- Keywords:
-
- Gauge theories;
- gravity;
- string theory;
- particle physics;
- High Energy Physics - Theory;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;
- Physics - Popular Physics
- E-Print:
- Invited undergraduate-level review submitted to Contemporary Physics. Comments welcome!