Parametrization of proton-proton total cross section from 10 GeV to 100 TeV

Abstract

Present estimations of proton-proton total cross section at very high energies are obtained from cosmic rays (>10^17 eV) by means of some approximations and the knowledge of the measured proton-air cross section at these energies. Besides, total cross section are measured with present day high energy colliders up to nearly 2 TeV in the center of mass (~ 10^15 eV in the laboratory). Here we use a phenomenological model based on the Multiple-Diffraction approach to succesfully describe data at accelerator energies. Then we estimate with it proton-proton total cross sections at cosmic ray energies. On the basis of a forecasting regression analysis we determine confident errors bands, analyzing the sensitivity of our predictions to the employed data for extrapolation.