Deep-Elastic pp Scattering at LHC from Low-x Gluons

TL;DR

This paper predicts that deep-elastic proton-proton scattering at LHC energies will show a smooth decrease in differential cross section at high momentum transfer, contrasting with oscillatory patterns suggested by other models.

Contribution

It introduces a model where deep-elastic scattering results from a single valence quark collision mediated by low-x gluon clouds identified as color glass condensate.

Findings

Differential cross section decreases smoothly with increasing |t|.

Contrasts with models predicting oscillations and smaller cross sections.

Provides a specific prediction for upcoming LHC measurements.

Abstract

Deep-elastic pp scattering at c.m. energy 14 TeV at LHC in the momentum transfer range 4 GeV*2 < |t| < 10 GeV*2 is planned to be measured by the TOTEM group. We study this process in a model where the deep-elastic scattering is due to a single hard collision of a valence quark from one proton with a valence quark from the other proton. The hard collision originates from the low-x gluon cloud around one valence quark interacting with that of the other. The low-x gluon cloud can be identified as color glass condensate and has size ~0.3 F. Our prediction is that pp differential cross section in the large |t| region decreases smoothly as momentum transfer increases. This is in contrast to the prediction of pp differential cross section with visible oscillations and smaller cross sections by a large number of other models.