POMERON FLUX RENORMALIZATION IN SOFT AND HARD DIFFRACTION

TL;DR

This paper addresses discrepancies in the energy dependence of diffraction cross sections by renormalizing the pomeron flux, leading to a new interpretation of hard diffraction consistent with the momentum sum rule.

Contribution

It introduces a flux renormalization method for pomeron exchange that aligns theoretical predictions with experimental data in both soft and hard diffraction.

Findings

Pomeron flux renormalization improves agreement with observed cross sections.

Reevaluation of double diffraction and double pomeron exchange data.

Hard pomeron obeys the momentum sum rule in the new framework.

Abstract

While the main features of elastic, diffractive and total cross sections are described well by Regge theory, the measured rise of the proton-(anti)proton single diffraction dissociation cross section with energy is considerably smaller than the theoretical prediction based on factorization and a constant triple-pomeron coupling. The observed energy dependence is obtained by renormalizing the pomeron flux "carried" by a nucleon to unity. Double diffraction and double pomeron exchange cross sections are reevaluated and compared to data, and a new interpretation of hard diffraction results emerges in which the hard pomeron obeys the momentum sum rule.