Coulomb-Nuclear Interference: Theory and Practice for pp-Scattering at 13 TeV

TL;DR

This paper revisits the theoretical framework of Coulomb-nuclear interference in proton-proton scattering at 13 TeV and reanalyzes TOTEM data, leading to different parameter estimates than previous publications.

Contribution

It provides a more substantiated theoretical treatment of CNI and a detailed statistical reanalysis of TOTEM data at low momentum transfer.

Findings

Different values for $ ho^{pp}$, $\sigma_{tot}^{pp}$, and $B^{pp}$ compared to TOTEM's published results.

Enhanced understanding of Coulomb-nuclear interference effects at high energies.

Refined extraction procedures for scattering parameters from experimental data.

Abstract

We provide a detailed reconsideration of the theoretical basis for the treatment of Coulomb-nuclear interference (CNI) and a corresponding thorough analysis of the procedure of extraction of the basic parameters $\rho^{~pp}, \sigma_{tot}^{~pp}$ and $B^{~pp}$ from the TOTEM data at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ TeV. A more substantiated account of CNI, as well as an in-depth statistical analysis of the TOTEM data at low transferred momenta, give results that differ from those published by the TOTEM collaboration.