Ambitwistor Strings in Four Dimensions

We develop ambitwistor string theories for four dimensions to obtain new formulas for tree-level gauge and gravity amplitudes with arbitrary amounts of supersymmetry. Ambitwistor space is the space of complex null geodesics in complexified Minkowski space, and in contrast to earlier ambitwistor strings, we use twistors rather than vectors to represent this space. Although superficially similar to the original twistor string theories of Witten, Berkovits, and Skinner, these theories differ in the assignment of world sheet spins of the fields, rely on both twistor and dual twistor representatives for the vertex operators, and use the ambitwistor procedure for calculating correlation functions. Our models are much more flexible, no longer requiring maximal supersymmetry, and the resulting formulas for amplitudes are simpler, having substantially reduced moduli. These are supported on the solutions to the scattering equations refined according to helicity and can be checked by comparison with corresponding formulas of Witten and of Cachazo and Skinner.