pp Elastic Scattering at LHC in Near Forward Direction

Abstract

We predict pp elastic differential cross section at LHC at the c.m. energy sqrt(s) = 14 TeV and momentum transfer range |t| = 0 - 10 GeV^2, which is planned to be measured by the TOTEM group. The field theory model underlying our phenomenological investigation describes the nucleon as a composite object with an outer cloud of quark-antiquark condensate, an inner core of topological baryonic charge, and a still smaller quark-bag of valence quarks. The model satisfactorily describes the asymptotic behavior of total cross section as a function of s and the real to imaginary ratio of the forward scattering amplitude as a function of s. It also describes well the the measured antiproton-proton elastic differential cross sections at sqrt(s)= 546 GeV, 630 GeV, and 1.8 TeV. The large |t| elastic amplitude of the model incorporates the BFKL Pomeron in next to leading order approximation, the perturbative dimensional counting behavior, and the confinement of valence quarks in a small region within the nucleon.