[Math] the amplituhedron

co.combinatoricsgrassmanniansintegrable-systemsmp.mathematical-physicstotal-positivity

The paper ”Scattering Amplitudes and the Positive Grassmannian” by Nima Arkani-Hamed, Jacob L. Bourjaily, Freddy Cachazo, Alexander B. Goncharov, Alexander Postnikov, and Jaroslav Trnka, introduces a remarkable new way for computations in quantum field theory based on volume computations of certain polyhedra. This and related works may also have profound implications for the foundation of particle physics. It is related to various beautiful mathematics, and, in particular, to the combinatorics of certain stratifications of the Grassmanians.(See also the Quanta Magazine article, A Jewel at the Heart of Quantum Physics, by Natalie Wolchover, and Nima Arkani-Hamed’s on-line SUSY 2013 video lecture The Amplituhedron.)

The amplituhedron is remarkable new subsequent geometric object which comes in this study extending the notion of "positive grassmanian." (I did not see it explicitly defined in the above paper, at least not by this name.) It is very briefly described in Arkani-Hamed's lecture.
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My question is quite simple:

what is the mathematical definition of the amplituhedron?

An older-sister MO question: The amplituhedron minus the physics

Update: The paper The amplituhedron by Nima Arkani-Hamed and Jaroslav Trnka is now on the arxive.

Update: See also this blog post by Trnka http://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/2014/03/31/guest-post-jaroslav-trnka-on-the-amplituhedron/

Best Answer

I would think that this presentation by Jaroslav Trnka, given here in Utrecht, goes at least some way towards a mathematical definition of the amplituhedron.

To skip the physical motivation, start at page 13; jargon abbreviations such as NMHV = "next-to-maximally helicity-violating" can be ignored (they relate only to the physical significance of the construction). The construction of the amplituhedron $P_{n,k,m}$ is summarized on page 23. What follows on later pages is the description how to associate a form $\Omega_{n,k,m}$ to the space $P_{n,k,m}$ and use this to calculate the required physical quantity (a scattering amplitude).


My attempt to parse a definition of the amplituhedron from Trnka's presentation:

For given integers $k,n,m$ (with $n\geq k+m$) take a $k\times n$ real matrix $C\in G_{+}(k,n)$ and a $(k+m)\times n$ real matrix $Z\in G_{+}(k+m,n)$. Here $G_+(k,n)$ is the positive Grassmannian space of $k\times n$ matrices with all $k\times k$ minors $>0$. (The $k\times n$ matrices are identified modulo the simultaneous action of a $k\times k$ matrix on each of the column vectors.)

Associated to these two positive Grassmannians is the $k\times (k+m)$ real matrix $Y$ having matrix elements

$$Y_{\alpha}^{\beta}=\sum_{p=1}^{n}C_{p}^{\alpha}Z_{p}^{\beta}.$$

By varying $C\in G_{+}(k,n)$ at fixed $Z\in G_{+}(k+m,n)$, the matrix $Y$ varies over a space $P_{n,k,m}$. This space is called the amplituhedron.