Soft processes at the LHC, II: Soft-hard factorization breaking and gap survival

TL;DR

This paper investigates the survival probability of rapidity gaps in diffractive processes at the LHC, analyzing the effects of rescattering and soft-hard factorization breaking, with implications for exclusive Higgs production.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of gap survival probabilities considering rescattering effects and argues that soft-hard factorization breaking is not significant at the LHC.

Findings

Enhanced rescattering is not very strong.

No indication of reaching the black disc regime at the LHC.

Predictions for rapidity gap survival in exclusive Higgs production.

Abstract

We calculate the probability that the rapidity gaps in diffractive processes survive both eikonal and enhanced rescattering. We present arguments that enhanced rescattering, which violates soft-hard factorization, is not very strong. Accounting for NLO effects, there is no reason to expect that the black disc regime is reached at the LHC. We discuss the predictions for the survival of the rapidity gaps for exclusive Higgs production at the LHC.