Soft gluons at large angles in hadron collisions

Abstract

A general discussion is presented of the single logarithmic soft factor that appears in two scale QCD observables in processes involving four partons. We treat it as the ``fifth form factor'', accompanying the four collinear singular Sudakov form factors attached to colliding and outgoing hard partons. The fifth form factor is expressed in terms of the Casimir operators (squared colour charges) of irreducible representations in the crossing $t$- and $u$-channels. As an application we revisit the problem of large angle radiation in $gg\to gg$ and give a relatively simple solution and interpretation of the results. We found an unexpected symmetry of the soft anomalous dimension under exchange of internal and external variables of the problem whose existence calls for explanation.