Worldsheet factorization for twistor-strings

Abstract

We study the multiparticle factorization properties of two worldsheet theories which - at tree-level - describe the scattering of massless particles in four dimensions: the Berkovits-Witten twistor-string for N= 4 super-Yang-Mills coupled to N= 4 conformal supergravity, and the Skinner twistor-string for N= 8 supergravity. By considering these string-like theories, we can study factorization at the level of the worldsheet before any Wick contractions or integrals have been performed; this is much simpler than considering the factorization properties of the amplitudes themselves. In Skinner's twistor-string this entails the addition of worldsheet gravity as well as a formalism that represents all external states in a manifestly symmetric way, which we develop explicitly at genus zero. We confirm that the scattering amplitudes of Skinner's theory, as well as the gauge theory amplitudes for the planar sector of the Berkovits-Witten theory, factorize appropriately at genus zero. In the non-planar sector, we find behavior indicative of conformal gravity in the Berkovits-Witten twistor-string. We contrast factorization in twistor-strings with the story in ordinary string theory, and also make some remarks on higher genus factorization and disconnected prescriptions. © 2014 The Author(s).