New limits on "odderon" amplitudes from analyticity constraints

Abstract

In studies of high energy $pp$ and $\bar pp$ scattering, the odd (under crossing) forward scattering amplitude accounts for the difference between the $pp$ and $\bar pp$ cross sections. Typically, it is taken as $f_-=-\frac{p}{4π}Ds^{α-1}e^{iπ(1-α)/2}$ ($α\sim 0.5$), which has $Δσ, Δρ\to0$ as $s\to\infty$, where $ρ$ is the ratio of the real to the imaginary portion of the forward scattering amplitude. However, the odd-signatured amplitude can have in principle a strikingly different behavior, ranging from having $Δσ\to$non-zero constant to having $Δσ\to \ln s/s_0$ as $s\to\infty$, the maximal behavior allowed by analyticity and the Froissart bound. We reanalyze high energy $pp$ and $\bar pp$ scattering data, using new analyticity constraints, in order to put new and precise limits on the magnitude of ``odderon'' amplitudes.