The collaboration with the amplitudes group at QMUL led to the derivation of a novel recursive relation for loop-level form factors and to the understanding of the mechanism implementing dual conformal symmetry in weakly coupled form factors for N=4 Super Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. In particular, the former result provides a recipe to obtain the loop level integrand for the N=4 SYM form factor using results for lower loops or lower number of legs. This is an important progress in the exploration of the perturbative structure of form factors in the weakly coupled regime and it is likely to lead to new powerful methods for the computation of high loop results. The latter achievement, on the other hand, is conceptually relevant as it shows the realization of a hidden symmetry, which had been discovered long ago in the study of scattering amplitudes in N=4 SYM, but it was believed to be absent for the case of form factors.
In a parallel research line, with the aim of identifying the Wilson loop dual of form factors, the researcher carried out some independent work focused on the insertion of local operators on Wilson lines. As it often happens in scientific research, this work led to important connections with the very active research area of conformal defects, leading the researcher to make important progress in that field. In particular, he studied four-dimensional theories with N=2 superconformal symmetry where he managed to prove an exact formula for the energy emitted by an accelerated charged particle, first by developing a new way of imposing superconformal invariance in a defect setting and then by using defect methods to study a small deformation of the background geometry. The former paper, in particular, was accepted for publication in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.
The Researcher also undertook an intense activity of communication and dissemination of his results. He presented his work in five international conferences and was invited for eleven seminars in high-level international institutions during the duration of the fellowship. The invitations he received provide a further confirmation of the excellent quality of the research carried out during the fellowship. He also took part in several outreach activities, including the publication of an article on a non-scientific journal and a public talk during his secondment. The latter was carried out from March 1st 2018 to August 31st 2018 at the University of Torino, where he had an extremely fruitful collaboration resulted in the publication of a paper with members of the Torino string theory group as well as in a long-lasting collaboration with the Italian Association of Physics Students, which involved the researcher in a variety of outreach activities.
