English

Kinematic Stratifications

Combinatorics 2026-03-04 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

We study stratifications of regions in the space of symmetric matrices. Their points are Mandelstam matrices for momentum vectors in particle physics. Kinematic strata in these regions are indexed by signs and rank two matroids. Matroid strata of Lorentzian quadratic forms arise when all signs are non-negative. We characterize the posets of strata, for massless and massive particles, with and without momentum conservation.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2503.09571,
  title  = {Kinematic Stratifications},
  author = {Veronica Calvo Cortes and Hadleigh Frost and Bernd Sturmfels},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.09571},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Correction of mistake in Section 4 and other minor changes

R2 v1 2026-06-28T22:17:51.862Z