Biadjoint scalar tree amplitudes and intersecting dual associahedra

Abstract

We present a new formula for the biadjoint scalar tree amplitudes $m(\alpha|\beta)$ based on the combinatorics of dual associahedra. Our construction makes essential use of the cones in 'kinematic space' introduced by Arkani-Hamed, Bai, He, and Yan. We then consider dual associahedra in 'dual kinematic space.' If appropriately embedded, the intersections of these dual associahedra encode the amplitudes $m(\alpha|\beta)$. In fact, we encode all the partial amplitudes at $n$-points using a single object (a fan) in dual kinematic space. Equivalently, as a pleasant corollary of our construction, all $n$-point partial amplitudes can be understood as coming from integrals over subvarieties in a single toric variety. Explicit formulas for the amplitudes then follow by evaluating these integrals using the equivariant localisation (or Duistermaat-Heckman) formula. Finally, by introducing a lattice in kinematic space, we observe that our fan is also related to the inverse KLT kernel, sometimes denoted $m_{\alpha'}(\alpha|\beta)$.