Loop corrections to soft theorems in gauge theories and gravity

Abstract

© The Author(s). In this paper, we study loop corrections to the recently proposed new soft theorems of Cachazo and Strominger [1], for both gravity and gauge theory amplitudes. We first review the proof of its tree-level validity based on BCFW recursion relations, which also establishes an infinite series of universals soft functions for MHV amplitudes, and a generalization to supersymmetric cases. For loop corrections, we focus on infrared finite, rational amplitudes at one loop, and apply recursion relations with boundary or double-pole contributions. For all-plus amplitudes, we prove that the subleading soft theorems are exact to all multiplicities for gauge theory and up to 12-points for gravity amplitudes. For single-minus amplitudes, while the subleading soft theorems are again exact for the minus-helicity soft leg, for plus-helicity loop corrections are required. Using recursion relations, we identify the source of such mismatch as stemming from the special contribution containing double poles, and obtain the all multiplicity one-loop corrections to the subleading soft behavior in Yang-Mills theory. We also comment on the derivation of soft theorems using BCFW recursion in arbitrary dimensions.