English

Logarithmic Soft Photon Theorem and Waveform Tails in Higher Dimensions

High Energy Physics - Theory 2026-08-04 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We derive the leading logarithmic soft-photon theorem in d>4d>4 spacetime dimensions and its classical radiative counterpart. A direct one-loop analysis in massive scalar quantum electrodynamics (QED) yields a factorizing soft term of order ωd4lnω\omega^{d-4}\ln\omega, although the charged-particle S-matrix is infrared finite. The logarithm is generated by the scale-invariant loop-momentum region ωΛ\omega\ll|\ell|\ll\Lambda, where Λ\Lambda denotes a characteristic hard-particle energy scale. At leading radiative order, the corresponding logarithmic contribution to the classical electromagnetic waveform arises from the long-range acceleration of the asymptotic charged particles. In even d6d\geq6, the straight-line waveform at this radiative order is distributionally supported in retarded time within an interval whose width is set by the characteristic size of the hard-scattering region, whereas the logarithmic acceleration term produces universal early- and late-time radiative tails proportional to u(3d10)/2|u|^{-(3d-10)/2}. In odd d5d\geq5, straight-line motion already gives a late-time tail at the same radiative order proportional to u(d4)/2u^{-(d-4)/2}. The acceleration correction adds universal late- and early-time terms proportional, respectively, to lnu/u(3d10)/2\ln u/u^{(3d-10)/2} and u(3d10)/2|u|^{-(3d-10)/2}. A comparison of Feynman and retarded boundary conditions separates the classically radiative contribution from the intrinsically quantum part of the logarithmic soft factor.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2608.03747,
  title  = {Logarithmic Soft Photon Theorem and Waveform Tails in Higher Dimensions},
  author = {Biswajit Sahoo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.03747},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

13 pages + derivation