ISSN:
1434-6052
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Physics
Notes:
Abstract. One of the key experimental issues in high energy hadron physics is the extent to which data from the diffractive interaction mechanism may be described by a factorized formula which is the product of a universal term describing the probability of finding a ${\cal P}$ omeron in a proton (loosely referred to as the “ ${\cal P}$ omeron flux-factor”) and a term describing the ${\cal P}$ omeron’s interaction with the other incident proton. In the present paper, after demonstrating that existing data on diffractive $\gamma^* p$ and $\bar pp$ interactions show that the ${\cal P}$ omeron flux-factor is not universal, we present the results of a new test of factorization in these interactions which does not rely on universality of the flux-factor. The test is satisfied to within $\sim 20\%$ for 1 〈 Q 2 〈 6 GeV2 and $\beta \leq 0.2$ in the $\gamma^* p$ interactions, suggesting that the reasons for non-universality of the flux-factor have a limited effect on the factorization itself. However, a clear breakdown of this test is observed at larger Q 2 . Kharzeev and Levin suggest that this can be attributed to the onset of QCD evolution effects in the ${\cal P}$ omeron’s structure. The breakdown occurs in a Q 2 region which agrees with their estimates of a small ${\cal P}$ omeron size.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s2004-01609-8
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