In calculating theory predictions for the LHC and related experiments, one must include the effect of fast moving particles emitting “soft” (low momentum) gluon radiation. How to do this is well-known, but very little is known about how to go beyond the soft approximation, to include so-called “next-to-soft” radiation.

This project will develop methods for describing next-to-soft radiation to all orders in perturbation theory. The results will have immediate applicability to increasing the precision of collider physics predictions, including e.g. for Higgs boson production at the LHC, and top quark pair production at a future linear collider. Furthermore, students may explore the links between the phenomenology next-to-soft radiation, and more formal related topics in gravity and string theory.