Diffractive phenomena

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent theoretical and experimental advances in diffractive scattering, comparing different models, discussing universality of diffractive PDFs, and highlighting HERA data's role in understanding hadronic interactions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of current theoretical approaches, introduces recent calculations on rescattering corrections, and discusses the potential of HERA data for probing hadronic structure.

Findings

Rescattering corrections suggest universality of diffractive parton distributions.

Comparison of DIS and dipole models clarifies theoretical frameworks.

HERA data offers unique insights into hard diffraction and hadronic interactions.

Abstract

The most recent theoretical and experimental results in the field of diffractive scattering are reviewed. A parallel between the two current theoretical approaches to diffraction, the DIS picture in the Breit frame and the dipole picture in the target frame, is given, accompanied by a description of the models to which the data are compared. A recent calculation of the rescattering corrections, which hints at the universality of the diffractive parton distribution functions, is presented. The concept of generalized parton distributions is discussed together with the first measurement of the processes which might give access to them. Particular emphasis is given to the HERA data, to motivate why hard diffraction in deep inelastic scattering is viewed as an unrivalled instrument to shed light on the still obscure aspects of hadronic interactions.