Structures in the high-energy proton-proton diffraction cone

TL;DR

This paper examines the prominent structures in the high-energy proton-proton diffraction cone, focusing on the fixed 'break' and the energy-dependent 'dip', and discusses their description within Regge theory amidst ongoing debates.

Contribution

It provides an analysis of the evolution of the diffraction cone structures with energy and explores their description using Regge theory, highlighting the physics behind these phenomena.

Findings

The 'break' remains fixed around $t \\approx -0.1$ GeV$^2$ across energies.

The 'dip' shifts towards smaller $|t|$ with increasing energy.

At LHC energies, the 'dip' approaches the 'break', influencing their parametrization.

Abstract

The otherwise exponential high-energy proton-proton diffraction cone has two prominent structures, which are namely the "break" staying fixed around $t \approx -0.1$ GeV$^2$ and the "dip" moving with increasing energy logarithmically towards smaller $|t|$ values. While at the ISR the two structures are separated by a distance of about $1$ GeV$^2$, at the LHC the dip comes close to the periphery of the "break", thus affecting its parametrization. The Regge theory gives some opportunity to describe these phenomena which have still disputable and quite different physics.