Three-graviton scattering in M-theory Original Research Article

The leading eikonal S-matrix for three-graviton scattering in d = 11 pergravity and Matrix theory are shown to precisely agree. The result unifies the source-probe plus recoil approach of Okawa and Yoneya and relaxes the restriction imposed by those authors that all D-particle impact parameters and velocities are mutually perpendicular. Furthermore, the unified S-matrix approach facilitates a clean-cut study of M-theoretic R4 curvature corrections to the low energy supergravity effective action. In particular, the leading R4 correction to the three-graviton S-matrix is computed and compared to the corresponding next to leading order two-loop U(3) amplitude in Matrix theory. We find a clear disagreement of the two resulting tensor structures.