The Dipole Picture and Saturation in Soft Processes

Abstract

We attempt to describe soft hadron interactions in the framework of saturation models, one based upon the Balitsky-Kovchegov non-linear equation and another one due to Golec-Biernat and W\"{u}sthoff. For $pp$, $Kp$, and $\pi p$ scattering the relevant hadronic wave functions are formulated, and total, elastic cross-sections, and the forward elastic slope are calculated and compared to experimental data. The saturation mechanism leads to reasonable reproduction of the data for the quantities analyzed, except for the forward elastic slope, where the predicted increase with energy is too moderate.