Electroweak radiative corrections in high energy processes

Experiments at future colliders will attempt to unveil the origin of electroweak symmetry breaking in the TeV range. At these energies the Standard Model (SM) predictions have to be known precisely in order to disentangle various viable scenarios such as supersymmetry and its manifestations. In particular, large logarithmic corrections of the scale ratio roots/M, where M denotes the gauge boson masses, contribute significantly up to and including the two loop level. In this paper we review recent progress in the theoretical understanding of the electroweak Sudakov corrections at high energies up to subleading accuracy in the SM and the minimal supersymmetric SM (MSSM). We discuss the symmetric part of the SM Lagrangian at high energies yielding the effective theory employed in the framework of the infrared evolution equation (IREE). method. Applications are presented for important SM and MSSM processes relevant for the physics program of future linear colliders including higher order purely electroweak angular dependent corrections. The size of the higher order subleading electroweak corrections is found to change cross sections in the several percent regime at TeV energies and their inclusion is thus mandatory for predictions of high energy processes at future colliders. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.