High-energy limit of quantum electrodynamics beyond Sudakov approximation

We study the high-energy behavior of the scattering amplitudes in quantum electrodynamics beyond the leading order of the small electron mass expansion in the leading logarithmic approximation. In contrast to the Sudakov logarithms, the mass-suppressed double-logarithmic radiative corrections are induced by a soft electron pair exchange and result in enhancement of the power-suppressed contribution, which dominates the amplitudes at extremely high energies. Possible applications of our result to the analysis of the high-energy processes in quantum chromodynamics is also discussed. © 2015 The Author