Addendum: Production of $π^{+} π^{-}$ pairs in diffractive photon-proton and in proton-proton collisions revisited, in particular concerning the Drell-Söding contribution

Abstract

We update our analyses concerning the non-resonant (Drell-Söding) contribution to the reaction $γ^{(*)} p \to π^{+} π^{-} p$, now including general vertex functions for the coupling of pomeron, $f_{2 \mathbb{R}}$, and $ρ_{\mathbb{R}}$, to pions. This takes into account the off-shellness of the pions. We present a comparison of our tensor-pomeron model, including our new Drell-Söding and $ρ$, $ω$ vector-meson contributions, with data for the $γp \to π^{+} π^{-} p$ reaction measured by the ZEUS and H1 Collaborations. We find very good agreement of our theory with the experimental data for the $π^{+} π^{-}$ invariant mass ($M_{ππ}$) and for angular distributions. Here we restrict our analysis to the region $M_{ππ} \lesssim 1.2$ GeV. For higher values of $M_{ππ}$ we will have to consider production of higher-mass mesons. The purpose of the present article is to show that our tensor-pomeron model gives a very good fit to the so-called skewing of the $ρ$-resonance contribution in photoproduction. In fact, it is an old problem/puzzle to understood the difference of the shapes of the $M_{ππ}$ distributions in the region of the $ρ(770)$ resonance in $e^{+} e^{-}$ annihilation and photoproduction. We think that with our results we have obtained for this problem a solution which is very satisfactory from the Quantum-Field-Theory point of view. Our results are also relevant for central-exclusive $π^{+} π^{-}$ production in ultraperipheral $pp$, A$p$, and AA collisions at the LHC and for photo- and electroproduction of $π^{+} π^{-}$ at future electron-proton/ion colliders, EIC and LeHC.