Energy correlations and Planckian collisions

Abstract: Energy correlations characterize the energy flux through detectors at infinity produced in a collision event. Remarkably, in holographic conformal field theories, they probe high-energy gravitational scattering in the dual anti-de Sitter geometry. We use known properties of high-energy gravitational scattering and its unitarization to explore the leading quantum-gravity correction to the energy-energy correlator at strong coupling. We find that it includes a part originating from large impact parameter scattering that is non-analytic in the angle between detectors and is $\log N_c$ enhanced compared to the standard $1/N_c$ perturbative expansion. It is sensitive to the full bulk geometry, including the internal manifold, providing a refined probe of the emergent holographic spacetime. Similarly, scattering at small impact parameters leads to contributions that are further enhanced by extra powers of the 't Hooft coupling assuming it is corrected by stringy effects. We conclude that energy correlations are sensitive to the UV properties of the dual gravitational theory and thus provide a promising target for the conformal bootstrap.