On Fine Structure of Strings: The Universal Correction to the Veneziano Amplitude

<!--HTML--><p>We consider theories of weakly interacting higher spin particles in flat spacetime. We focus on the four-point scattering amplitude at high energies and imaginary scattering angles. The leading asymptotic of the amplitude in this regime is universal and equal to the corresponding limit of the Veneziano amplitude. In this paper, we find that the first sub-leading correction to this asymptotic is universal as well. We compute the correction using a model of relativistic strings with massive endpoints. We argue that it is unique using holography, effective theory of long strings and bootstrap techniques.</p>