Automorphic string amplitudes

Licentiate thesis, 2015

This thesis explores the non-perturbative properties of higher derivative interactions appearing in the low-energy expansion of four-graviton scattering amplitudes in toroidal compactifications of type IIB string theory. We summarise the arguments for finding such higher derivative corrections in terms of automorphic forms using U-duality, supersymmetry and string perturbation theory. The perturbative and non-perturbative parts can then be studied from their Fourier expansions. To be able to compute such Fourier coefficients we use the adelic framework as an intermediate step which also gives a new perspective on the arithmetic content of the scattering amplitudes. We give a review of known methods for computing certain classes of Fourier coefficients from the mathematical literature as presented in Paper I of the appended papers, and of our own work in Paper II towards computing some of the remaining coefficients of interest in string theory.