A panoramic view of infrared singularities

The study of infrared singularities, due to the emission of “soft” (low momentum) gauge bosons, remains a highly active research area in a variety of quantum field theories. After motivating both phenomenological and formal reasons as to why we should care about IR singularities, this talk will review their structure in QED, QCD and quantum gravity, examining the similarities and differences between these three contexts. The role of Wilson lines will be examined, which provide a useful unifying language. Finally, I will examine recent work on moving beyond the soft approximation, and why this might be useful.