On sudakov and soft resummations in QCD

In this article we extract soft distribution functions for Drell-Yan and Higgs production processes using mass factorisation theorem and the perturbative results that are known upto three loop level. We find that they are maximally non-Abelian. We show that these functions satisfy Sudakov type integro-differential equations. The formal solutions to such equations and also to the mass factorisation kernel upto four loop level are presented. Using the soft distribution function extracted from Drell-Yan production, we show how the soft plus virtual cross section for the Higgs production can be obtained. We determine the threshold resummation exponents upto three loop using the soft distribution function. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.