Unraveling L_{n,k}: Grassmannian Kinematics

Understand

It was recently proposed that the leading singularities of the S-Matrix of N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory arise as the residues of a contour integral over a Grassmannian manifold, with space-time locality encoded through residue theorems generalizing Cauchy's theorem to more than one variable.

• We provide a method to identify the residue corresponding to any leading singularity, and we carry this out very explicitly for all leading singularities at tree level and one-loop.
• We also give several examples at higher loops, including all generic two-loop leading singularities and an interesting four-loop object.
• As a special case we consider a 12-pt N^4MHV leading singularity at two loops that has a new kinematic structure involving double square roots.