Off-Shell Yang-Mills Amplitude in the CHY Formalism

Abstract

M\"obius invariance is used to construct gluon tree amplitudes in the Cachazo, He, and Yuan (CHY) formalism. If it is equally effective in steering the construction of off-shell tree amplitudes, then the S-matrix CHY theory can be used to replace the Lagrangian Yang-Mills theory. In the process of investigating this possibility, we find that the CHY formula can indeed be modified to obtain a M\"obius invariant off-shell amplitude, but unfortunately this modified amplitude $M_P$ is not the Yang-Mills amplitude because it lacks gauge invariance. A complementary amplitude $M_Q$ must be added to restore gauge invariance, but its construction relies on the Lagrangian and not M\"obius invariance. Although neither $M_P$ nor $M_Q$ is fully gauge invariant, both are partially gauge invariant in a sense to be explained. This partial gauge invariance turns out to be very useful for checking calculations. A Feynman amplitude so split into the sum of $M_P$ and $M_Q$ also contains fewer terms.