Inelastic diffractive scattering in nonperturbative QCD

We examine diffractive proton-proton scattering and photo- and electroproduction of mesons , where X denotes a proton or a final state, into which the proton can go by diffractive dissociation. Using a functional integral approach we derive the scattering amplitudes, which are governed by the expectation values of light-like Wegner-Wilson loops, which are then evaluated using the model of the stochastic vacuum. For the proton, we assume a quark-diquark structure. From the scattering amplitudes we calculate total and differential cross sections for high centre of mass energy and small momentum transfer and compare with experiments. Furthermore we calculate isovector form factors for the proton and the pion within the same model. Received: 30 January 2001 / Revised version: 29 June 2001 / Published online: 3 August 2001     

Saturation in diffractive deep inelastic eA scattering

In this paper, we investigate the saturation physics in diffractive deep inelastic electron-ion scattering. We estimate the energy and nuclear dependence of the ratio σ^diff/σ^tot and predict the x_ℙ and β behavior of the nuclear diffractive structure function F_2,A^D(3)(Q²,β,x_ℙ). Moreover, we analyze the ratio R^diff_A1,A2(Q²,β,x_ℙ)=F_2,A1^D(3)/F_2,A2^D(3), which probes the nuclear dependence of the structure of the pomeron. We show that saturation physics predicts that approximately 37% of the events observed at eRHIC should be diffractive.     

Boundary condition model for diffractive elastic scattering

Diffractive elastic scattering is studied by a boundary condition model that does not utilize a potential model.S-matrix elements are calculated and compared to those found from an optical potential model calculation. The unitarity of the model is related to the boundary condition imposed. A radially ingoing boundary condition is imposed on the wave function at one angle only, at a scattering angle of 180 °. This condition is required to hold in the vicinity of the nuclear radius, but not for all radii. Elastic scattering peaks at forward and backward angles are reproduced and discussed. The model is applied to composite particle scattering above the Coulomb barrier.     

Photon polarisation in diffractive deep inelastic scattering

The distribution of a suitably defined azimuthal angle in diffractive deep inelastic scattering contains information on the polarisation of the exchanged photon. In particular it allows one to constrain the longitudinal diffractive structure function. We investigate the potential of such bounds in general and for particular diffractive final states. Received: 17 September 1997 / Published online: 23 February 1998     

Inclusive measurement of diffractive deep-inelastic ep scattering

A measurement is made of the cross section for the process ep → eXY in deep-inelastic scattering with the H1 detector at HERA. The cross section is presented in terms of a differential structure function F ₂ ^D(3) (x _P, β,Q ²) of the proton over the kinematic range 4.5 < Q ² < 75 GeV². The dependence of F ₂ ^D(3) on x _P is found to vary with β, demonstrating that a factorisation of F ₂ ^D(3) with a single diffractive flux independent of β and Q ² is not tenable. An interpretation in which a leading diffractive exchange and a subleading reggeon contribute to F ₂ ^D(3) reproduces well the x _P dependence of F ₂ ^D(3) with values for the pomeron and subleading reggeon intercepts of α_P (0) = 1.203±0.020(stat.)±0.013(sys.) _-0.035 ^+0.030 (model) and α _R (0) = 0.50 ± 0.11(stat.) ± 0.11(sys.) _-0.10 ^+0.09 (model), respectively. A fit is performed of the data using a QCD motivated model, in which parton distributions are assigned to the leading and subleading exchanges. In this model, the majority of the momentum of the pomeron must be carried by gluons in order for the data to be well described.     

Single pseudoscalar meson production in diffractive ep scattering

Exclusive pseudoscalar meson production in scattering at high energies is a direct probe for a possible “odderon” exchange in soft hadronic processes. Using a simple phenomenological ansatz for the odderon, we demonstrate how it can be separated from the contribution due to photon-photon fusion, and the relevant parameters be measured. Total cross sections and differential distributions are presented for , and production. Results are given from both a full calculation and one using the equivalent photon approximation. The accuracy of the latter is discussed. Received: 18 December 1997 / Published online: 10 March 1998     

Pomeron vertices in perturbative QCD in diffractive scattering

We analyze the momentum space triple pomeron vertex in perturbative QCD. In addition to the standard form of this vertex which is used in the context of total cross sections at high energies and in the QCD reggeon field theory, there exists an alternative form which has to be used in the study of high-mass diffraction. We review and analyze the relation between these two versions. We discuss some implications for the BK equation. In the second part of our paper we extend this analysis to the pomeron-odderon-odderon vertex.Received: 11 January 2005, Revised: 24 January 2005, Published online: 3 March 2005     

A QCD analysis of diffractive deep-inelastic scattering data

We perform a novel type of analysis of diffractive deep-inelastic scattering data, in which the input parton distributions of the pomeron are parameterised using the perturbative QCD expressions. In particular, we treat individually the components of the pomeron of different size. We are able to describe simultaneously both the recent ZEUS and H1 diffractive data. In addition to the usual two-gluon model for the perturbative pomeron, we allow for the possibility that it may be made from two sea quarks.Received: 12 July 2004, Revised: 3 September 2004, Published online: 24 September 2004     

Systematics of hadron-proton diffractive scattering at high energies

We apply the eikonal formalism to existingπ ^±,K ^±,p, \(\bar p\) ,∑ ^? andΞ ^? elastic scattering data on a target proton in order to perform a detailed test of the additivity of eikonals of the constituent quark-quark interaction. The difference between the pion and kaon channels imposes an obvious flavor dependence. In addition, the systematic treatment of meson and baryon scattering for all values oft requires a renormalization of the fundamental interaction strength which persists in a rescattering treatment of the problem as well as with the inclusion of gluonic degrees of freedom. A variety of form factors and elementary amplitudes are studied with wide ranging consequences on the quality of the reproduction of the data.     

A classical path approximation for diffractive surface scattering

The well-known classical path approximation is applied to a calculation of diffraction intensities in the scattering of atoms from a rigid crystal with a soft interaction potential. A general expression is derived for the diffraction intensities which can be applied to potentials with several higher-order terms in the Fourier series. For an uncorrugated Morse potential with a first-order exponential corrugation term an analytic solution is obtained which is compared with the infinite order suddent (IOS) approximation calculations for Ne/W(110) and He/LiF(100). Both approximations are very accurate for the weakly corrugated Ne/W system. For He/LiF the present approximation is more accurate than the sudden (IOS) approximation and has the added advantage of providing an analytic solution. Several improvements are suggested.     

A consistent next-to-leading-order QCD calculation of hadronic diffractive scattering

We calculate the order _s² and order _s³ QCD contributions to colour-singlet exchange in the leading log s approximation. We implement the resulting amplitude at the hadronic level and thus construct the QCD pomeron and odderon to this order of perturbation theory. We show that the structure of the hadronic form factors provides a natural mechanism through which the odderon gets suppressed at t = 0 whereas it dominates the elastic cross section at large t. We also demonstrate that the inclusion of nonperturbative effects through a modification of the gluon propagator accelerates greatly the convergence of the log s expansion, although not enough to provide agreement with the data.     

Dijet production in diffractive deep inelastic scattering at HERA

The production of dijets in diffractive deep inelastic scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 61 pb^-1. The dijet cross section has been measured for virtualities of the exchanged virtual photon, 5 < Q² < 100 GeV², and γ^*p centre-of-mass energies, 100 < W < 250 GeV. The jets, identified using the inclusive k_T algorithm in the γ^*p frame, were required to have a transverse energy E^* _T,jet > 4 GeV and the jet with the highest transverse energy was required to have E^* _T,jet > 5 GeV. All jets were required to be in the pseudorapidity range -3.5<η^* _jet<0. The differential cross sections are compared to leading-order predictions and next-to-leading-order QCD calculations based on recent diffractive parton densities extracted from inclusive diffractive deep inelastic scattering data.     

Hard diffractive photon-proton scattering at large |t|

We propose to test perturbative QCD(pQCD) in the Regge limit by means of diffractive photon scattering, , at large and very high energies, . The helicity amplitudes of this process were calculated using the Lipatov solution of the BFKL equation for . We found that the perturbatively calculated cross section for this process is comparable in magnitude to the cross section for photoproduction assuming similar kinematics. Received: 9 September 1998 / Revised version: 2 October 1998 / Published online: 14 January 1999     

Experimental evidence for dual diffractive resonances in pion-nucleus scattering

Experimental data on the pion-nucleus total cross sections are analysed in terms of the dual diffractive resonance (DDR) mechanism. The DDR predictions are found to agree well with the actual experimental data in the region corresponding to the Δ(1236) resonance in elementary πN scattering.