Universal structure of subleading infrared poles in gauge theory amplitudes

We study the origin of subleading soft and collinear poles of form factors and amplitudes in dimensionally-regulated massless gauge theories. In the case of form factors of fundamental fields, these poles originate from a single function of the coupling, denoted G(αs), depending on both the spin and gauge quantum numbers of the field. We relate G(αs) to gauge-theory matrix elements involving the gluon field strength. We then show that G(αs) is the sum of three terms: a universal eikonal anomalous dimension, a universal non-eikonal contribution, given by the coefficient Bδ(αs) of δ(1−z) in the collinear evolution kernel, and a process-dependent short-distance coefficient function, which does not contribute to infrared poles. Using general results on the factorization of soft and collinear singularities in fixed-angle massless gauge theory amplitudes, we conclude that all such singularities are captured by the eikonal approximation, supplemented only by the knowledge of Bδ(αs). We explore the consequences of our results for conformal gauge theories, where in particular we find a simple exact relation between the form factor and the cusp anomalous dimension.