Talks

String theory is starting to provide novel all-loop precision tools for the computation of scattering amplitudes in the high energy (HE) limit of N=4 SYM theory. After a review of some key insights and results for hexagon amplitudes, I will describe ongoing developments addressing higher numbers of external gluons.

I will discuss how to classify (up to discrete identifications) all rigid 4D N=2 supersymmetric backgrounds in both Lorentzian and Euclidean signatures that preserve eight real supercharges. These include backgrounds such as warped S_3×R, warped AdS_3×R, and AdS_2×S^2, as well as some more exotic geometries. I will also address how to construct all supersymmetric two-derivative actions involving hypermultiplets and vector multiplets in these backgrounds.

We introduce the notion of a local shadow for a black hole and determine its shape for the particular case of a distorted Schwarzschild black hole. Considering the lowest-order  even and odd multiple moments, we compute the relation between the deformations of the shadow of a Schwarzschild black hole and the distortion multiple moments. For the range of values of multiple moments that we consider, the horizon is deformed much less than its corresponding shadow, suggesting the horizon is more `rigid'.  Quite unexpectedly we find that a prolate distortion of the horizon gives rise to an oblate distortion of the shadow, and vice-versa.