Higher order string effects and the properties of the Pomeron

TL;DR

This paper explores how effective string theory models of QCD can describe the Pomeron, revealing new effects from higher order string corrections that influence high-energy scattering and nucleon structure.

Contribution

It introduces higher order string corrections to the Pomeron description within effective string theory, linking static potential and scattering amplitude, and discusses implications for future collider studies.

Findings

Higher order string effects modify Pomeron intercept and slope.

String corrections influence nucleon size growth at high energies.

The model predicts an odderon that exists outside critical dimension.

Abstract

We revisit the description of the Pomeron within the effective string theory of QCD. Using a string duality relation, we show how the static potential maps onto the high-energy scattering amplitude that exhibits the Pomeron behavior. Besides the Pomeron intercept and slope, new additional terms stemming from the higher order string corrections are shown to affect both the growth of the nucleon's size at high energies and its profile in impact parameter space. The stringy description also allows for an odderon that only disappears in critical dimension. Some of the Pomeron's features that emerge within the effective string description can be studied at the future EIC collider.