The cornerstone to make theoretical predictions for many particle physics and gravitational wave experiments are so-called scattering amplitudes, which are mathematical quantities that describe the way, e.g. fundamental particles interact. The computation of scattering amplitudes is notoriously difficult, which is one of the major bottlenecks when computing theoretical predictions. Over the last decade it was realised that there are deep connections between the computation of scattering amplitudes and certain branches of modern mathematics, in particular algebraic geometry and number theory.
The goals of the project LoCoMotive is to develop new technique beyond the state of the art for the computation of scattering amplitudes based on novel ideas from modern mathematics. In order to achieve its goals, the activities of LoCoMotive are divided into 3 main areas. First, we will perform in in-depth study of the areas of mathematics needed to describe scattering amplitudes, and will develop the relevant mathematics further where needed. Second, we aim at studying scattering amplitudes in a variety of physics theories which exhibit additional symmetries, in order to identify new structures and results in these theories. Finally, we aim at performing very precise predictions for experiments that are out of reach with conventional techniques, in particular collider experiments like the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and its possible successors.