The TOTEM experiment has made a precise measurement of the elastic proton-proton differential cross-section at the centre-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 8 TeV based on a high-statistics data sample obtained with the beta* = 90 optics. Both the statistical and systematic uncertainties remain below 1%, except for the t-independent contribution from the overall normalisation. This unprecedented precision allows to exclude a purely exponential differential cross-section in the range of four-momentum transfer squared 0.027 < |t| < 0.2 GeV^2 with a significance greater than 7 sigma. Two extended parametrisations, with quadratic and cubic polynomials in the exponent, are shown to be well compatible with the data. Using them for the differential cross-section extrapolation to t = 0, and further applying the optical theorem, yields total cross-section estimates of (101.5 +- 2.1) mb and (101.9 +- 2.1) mb, respectively, in agreement with previous TOTEM measurements.

At the LHC energy of $\sqrt s = 7\,{\mathrm { TeV}}$ , under various beam and background conditions, luminosities, and Roman Pot positions, TOTEM has measured the differential cross-section for proton-proton elastic scattering as a function of the four-momentum transfer squared t. The results of the different analyses are in excellent agreement demonstrating no sizeable dependence on the beam conditions. Due to the very close approach of the Roman Pot detectors to the beam center (≈5σ(beam)) in a dedicated run with β* = 90 m, |t|-values down to 5·10(−)(3) GeV(2) were reached. The exponential slope of the differential elastic cross-section in this newly explored |t|-region remained unchanged and thus an exponential fit with only one constant B = (19.9 ± 0.3) GeV(−)(2) over the large |t|-range from 0.005 to 0.2 GeV(2) describes the differential distribution well. The high precision of the measurement and the large fit range lead to an error on the slope parameter B which is remarkably small compared to previous experiments. It allows a precise extrapolation over the non-visible cross-section (only 9%) to t = 0. With the luminosity from CMS, the elastic cross-section was determined to be (25.4 ± 1.1) mb, and using in addition the optical theorem, the total pp cross-section was derived to be (98.6 ± 2.2) mb. For model comparisons the t-distributions are tabulated including the large |t|-range of the previous measurement (TOTEM Collaboration (Antchev G. et al), EPL, 95 (2011) 41001).

Proton-proton elastic scattering has been measured by the TOTEM experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at {\surd}s = 7 TeV in dedicated runs with the Roman Pot detectors placed as close as seven times the transverse beam size (sbeam) from the outgoing beams. After careful study of the accelerator optics and the detector alignment, |t|, the square of four-momentum transferred in the elastic scattering process, has been determined with an uncertainty of d t = 0.1GeV p|t|. In this letter, first results of the differential cross section are presented covering a |t|-range from 0.36 to 2.5GeV2. The differential cross-section in the range 0.36 < |t| < 0.47 GeV2 is described by an exponential with a slope parameter B = (23.6{\pm}0.5stat {\pm}0.4syst)GeV-2, followed by a significant diffractive minimum at |t| = (0.53{\pm}0.01stat{\pm}0.01syst)GeV2. For |t|-values larger than ~ 1.5GeV2, the cross-section exhibits a power law behaviour with an exponent of -7.8_\pm} 0.3stat{\pm}0.1syst. When compared to predictions based on the different available models, the data show a strong discriminative power despite the small t-range covered.

The STAR Collaboration reports on the photoproduction of $\pi^+\pi^-$ pairs in gold-gold collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV/nucleon-pair. These pion pairs are produced when a nearly-real photon emitted by one ion scatters from the other ion. We fit the $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant mass spectrum with a combination of $\rho$ and $\omega$ resonances and a direct $\pi^+\pi^-$ continuum. This is the first observation of the $\omega$ in ultra-peripheral collisions, and the first measurement of $\rho-\omega$ interference at energies where photoproduction is dominated by Pomeron exchange. The $\omega$ amplitude is consistent with the measured $\gamma p\rightarrow \omega p$ cross section, a classical Glauber calculation and the $\omega\rightarrow\pi^+\pi^-$ branching ratio. The $\omega$ phase angle is similar to that observed at much lower energies, showing that the $\rho-\omega$ phase difference does not depend significantly on photon energy. The $\rho^0$ differential cross section $d\sigma/dt$ exhibits a clear diffraction pattern, compatible with scattering from a gold nucleus, with 2 minima visible. The positions of the diffractive minima agree better with the predictions of a quantum Glauber calculation that does not include nuclear shadowing than with a calculation that does include shadowing.

This paper presents the first analysis of diffractive photon dissociation events in deep inelastic positron-proton scattering at HERA in which the proton in the final state is detected and its momentum measured. The events are selected by requiring a scattered proton in the ZEUS leading proton spectrometer (LPS) with $\xl>0.97$, where $\xl$ is the fraction of the incoming proton beam momentum carried by the scattered proton. The use of the LPS significantly reduces the contamination from events with diffractive dissociation of the proton into low mass states and allows a direct measurement of $t$, the square of the four-momentum exchanged at the proton vertex. The dependence of the cross section on $t$ is measured in the interval $0.073<|t|<0.4$~$\gevtwo$ and is found to be described by an exponential shape with the slope parameter $b=\tslopeerr$. The diffractive structure function $\ftwodfour$ is presented as a function of $\xpom \simeq 1-\xl$ and $\beta$, the momentum fraction of the struck quark with respect to $\xpom$, and averaged over the $t$ interval $0.073<|t|<\ftwodfourtmax$~$\gevtwo$ and the photon virtuality range $5<Q^2<20~\gevtwo$. In the kinematic range $4 \times 10^{-4} < \xpom < 0.03$ and $0.015<\beta<0.5$, the $\xpom$ dependence of $\ftwodfour$ is fitted with a form $\xpoma$, yielding $a= \ftwodfouraerr$. Upon integration over $t$, the structure function $\ftwod$ is determined in a kinematic range extending to higher $\xpom$ and lower $\beta$ compared to our previous analysis; the results are discussed within the framework of Regge theory.

Results on exclusive double diffraction dissociation in (N π ) and (N ππ ) final states are reported for neutron-neutron interactions at √ s = 26.4 GeV and for the proton-neutron interactions at √ s = 37.2 GeV. The data have been obtained at the CERN intersecting storage rings using split field magnet detector with proton-deuteron and deuteron-deuteron colliding beams. Factorization is shown to be verified to a very high degree in both mass- and t -differential cross-sections. The data confirm the previously observed rise in the proton-proton double diffractive cross-section as a function of c.m. energy.

The single diffraction dissociation process pp → (p π + π − )p has been studied at the CERN ISR at √ s = 45 GeV and 0.1 < − t < 0.6 GeV 2 . The reaction is dominated by nucleon resonance production: pp → pN (1520) and pp → pN(1688) with cross-sections (0.25 ± 0.08) mb and (0.56 ± 0.19) mb respectively.

A study of the reaction π + p → p π + π o at 16 GeV/ c incident momentum has been made using the prism plot analysis to reject background events arising from elastic and multineutral contaminations and to separate different reaction channels ( ϱ + p, g + p, Δ + π + , Δ ++ π o , π + (p π o ) DD ). Cross sections, invariant mass distributions and production and decay angular distributions are presented. For the channel corresponding to proton diffraction dissociation strong violation of both s - and t -channel helicity conservation is found for low values of the (p π o ) mass. We demonstrate that the prism plot method provides a better separation of background events than conventional methods using kinematic cuts.

We present the results of a systematic analysis of charge-exchange double dissociation in proton-proton collisions at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings. The data, obtained with the Split-Field Magnet detector, cover the entire ISR energy range between s = 23 GeV and s = 63 GeV at five standard energies.

The p p elastic differential cross section at 30 GeV/ c incident momentum has been measured in a two-arm spectrometer experiment (WA7) at the CERN SPS. The | t |-range covered extends from 0.5 to 5.8 (GeV/ c ) 2 . A pronounced dip-bump structure is observed, with a sharp minimum around | t | ≈ 1.7 (GeV/ c ) 2 . The results are compared with existing p p data at lower energies and with our earlier p p data at 50 GeV/ c . A number of model predictions are discussed. We also compare the p p 30 GeV/ c differential cross section with that of pp at the same momentum. Finally, the energy dependence of the p p fixed-| t | differential cross in the incident momentum range 3.6 to 50 GeV/ c is presented.