Théo Ferry and Francesco Calisto started an internship in our group. They are students from Paris and from Turin and will spend four months with us. Both of them work on independent projects in scattering amplitudes calculations and set steps to future research. To give an insight into their internships Francesco and Théo tell us some more about their projects – and their motivations.

‍What are you studying?

Francesco: I am attending the last year of the bachelor degree in Physics at the University of Turin.

Théo: I am a Master Student at the École Polytechnique in Paris and I study theoretical physics.

Why did you choose an internship here with us?

Francesco: I wanted to carry out my BSc thesis project in collaboration with an international research institute. Working in a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Physics surely is a nice opportunity. I am working partially from Turin and partially from Munich.

Théo: I really wanted Quantum Field Theory to be part of my internship as it is a subject I had been passionate about at school, so when I saw that there was a QFT group here I asked about an internship. Frankly speaking my first desire was to travel after the years of the pandemic. Originally the destination was to be more exotic - Russia - but now I am happy to be in Munich.

‍What is your project about?

Francesco: The goal of the project is two-fold. The first part aims at understanding the steps that from a particle process lead to a system of differential equations satisfied by Feynman loop integrals. The second part consists in trying to solve these differential equations with the help of Scientific Machine Learning techniques, like Physics Informed Neural Networks. With my project I work towards improving the accuracy of scattering amplitudes calculations, which are obtained through Feynman loop integrals evaluation.

Théo: The subject of my intern is "Numerical integration of Feynman integrals using tropical geometry methods". The aim is to have a numerical approach to compute Feynman integrals. To estimate those integrals, a basic method would be to average the value of the integrands. But for the precision we are looking for, this would not be efficient. Fortunately, here, our integrands are particular because we try to calculate amplitude scattering of particles, and they have a geometrical interpretation. We can take advantage of this structure. We evaluate our integrands not totally randomly, but take into account the important parties and weight them into our samplings. With this we increase the accuracy and make calculations more efficient.

What fascinates you the most about this field of research?

‍‍Francesco: I am fascinated by the width of topics in theoretical particle physics and by the exchange of ideas between researchers with different backgrounds in mathematics and physics. I would be interested in working in this field with a concern for the connections between abstract mathematical concepts and physical theories.

Théo: I was fascinated by the construction of the QFT: seeing how with so few elements one can build a theory capable of accounting for complex processes – and all while providing an elegant formalism. I am still at the beginning of the discovery of this discipline and I hope to learn more in the future.

What do you expect from your time here in the group?

Francesco: Although I am still in the early stages of my academic path, collaborating with the Scattering Amplitudes group is a great way for me to understand what it means and what it takes to be part of a research group. The international environment allows me to create stimulating connections with other students and researchers.

Théo: Apart from working on my topic and gaining a better understanding of my subject, this internship is my first encounter with the world of research. I hope so to get to know people and see how you can develop oneself in the research environment.

Thank you very much, Théo and Francesco!