p p Elastic Scattering at LHC and Nucleon Structure

Abstract

High energy elastic $p p$ scattering at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at c.m. energy 14 TeV is predicted using the asymptotic behavior of $\sigma_{tot}(s)$ and $\rho(s)$ known from dispersion relation calculations and the measured elastic $\bar p p$ differential cross section at $\sqrt{s} = 546 {\rm GeV}$. The effective field theory model underlying the phenomenological analysis describes the nucleon as having an outer cloud of quark-antiquark condensed ground state, an inner core of topological baryonic charge of radius $\simeq 0.44F$ and a still smaller valence quark-bag of radius $\lesssim 0.1 {\rm F}$. The LHC experiment TOTEM (Total and Elastic Measurement), if carried out with sufficient precision from $|t| = 0$ to $|t| > 10 {\rm GeV^2}$, will be able to test this structure of the nucleon.