A detailed account is given of high-precision measurements of the total hadronic cross sections of proton-antiproton and proton-proton interactions at centre-of-mass energies of 30.6, 52.8 and 62.7 GeV. The experiment was performed at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings (ISR) using the total interaction-rate method, in which additive correction terms for trigger losses were held to less than 6% of the final result. An experimental determination of the vertical beam-displacement scale permitted luminosity-monitor calibrations to be made with high intrinsic accuracy. The overall precision (systematic and statistical errors combined) achieved in the total cross sections was ± 1.1% for proton-antiproton reactions and 0.7% for proton-proton reactions. In the proton-proton case the measurement was the most precise such measurement made at the ISR.

We measured the elastic scattering of αα at s = 126 GeV and of α p at s = 89 GeV . For αα , the differential cross section d σ /d t has a diffractive pattern minima at | t | = 0.10 and 0.38 GeV 2 . At small | t | = 0.05−0.07 GeV 2 , this cross section behaves like exp[(100 ± 10) t ]. Extrapolating a fit to the data to the optical point, we obtained for the total cross section α tot ( αα ) = 250 ± 50 mb and an integrated elastic cross section σ e1 ( αα ) = 45 ± mb. Another method of estimating σ tot ( αα ), based on measuring the interaction rate, yielded 295 ± 40 mb. For α p, d σ /d t has aminimum at | t | = 0.20 GeV 2 , and for 0.05 < | t | < 0.18 GeV 2 behaves like exp[(41 ± 2) t ]. Extrapolating this slope to | t | = 0, we found σ tot ( α p) = 130 ± 20 and σ e1 ( α p) = 20 ± 4mb. Results on pp elastic scattering at s = 63 GeV agree with previous ISR experiments.

We measured the differential cross section for p̄p and pp elastic scattering in the momentum-transfer range 0.01 <| t | < 1.0 GeV 2 at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings with center-of-mass energy s = 52.8 GeV . Fitting the differential cross section with an exponential [ A exp ( bt )], we found b p p = 13.92 ± 0.59 GeV −2 for | t | < 0.05 GeV 2 , whilst for | t | > 0.09 GeV 2 , b p p = 10.68 ± 0.26 GeV −2 . Using the optical theorem, we obtained for the total cross section σ tot ( p p)= 44.86 ± 0.78 mb and, by integrating the differential cross section, we obtained for the total elastic cross section σ el ( p p) = 7.89 ± 0.28 mb . Calculations of σ tot combining elastic-rate and total-rate measurements are also given. All of these measurements were also performed for pp scattering at the same energy, and the results for both reactions are compared.

The small-angle elastic scattering for pp at s=23.5, 30.7, and 52.8 GeV and for p¯p at s=52.8 GeV are measured. The data are normalized on Coulomb scattering. Using the optical theorem and the best estimate of the real part of the forward scattering amplitude, ρ(pp¯)=0.1, we obtain σtot(p¯p)=44.1±2.9 mb for the total cross section and b(p¯p)=13.6±2.2 GeV−2 for the nuclear slope parameter. This supports the dispersion relation prediction that σtot(p¯p) will start to rise above Elab≈200 GeV.

We have measured the differential cross section for small angle p−p scattering from 25 to 200 GeV incident energy and in the momentum transfer range 0.015<|t|<0.080 (GeVc)2. We find that the slope of the forward diffraction peak, b(s), increases with energy and can be fitted by the form b(s)=b0+2α′ lns, where b0=8.3±1.3 and α′=0.28±0.13 (GeVc)−2. Such dependence is compatible with the data existing both at higher and lower energies. We have also obtained the energy dependence of the p−p total cross section in the energy range from 48 to 196 GeV. Within our errors which are ± 1.1 mb the total cross section remains constant.

We have studied the reactionspp→ppπ+π-,K+p→K+pπ+π−π, π+p→ π+,pπ+π− and π−p →π+π− at 147 GeV/c using the 30-inch Fermilab hybrid system. All four reactions were detected with the same apparatus and analyzed in the same way. The energy dependence of the channel cross section was found to beAp−0.6+B for thepp reaction andAp−1+B for the other three. About 90% of the cross section at 147 GeV/c can be accounted for by either beam or target diffraction. Some of the remaining cross section may come from double Pomeron exchange reactions which we tried to isolate. We have tested the hypothesis of a factorizable Pomeron and our data indicates a violation of this hypothesis. We show that the 3π mass enhancement in the mass region 1.2–1.4 GeV is diffractively produced in the π± beam reactions. Fourprong, four-constraint and six-prong, four-constraint cross sections are reported.

The single-pion production reactions $pp\to d\pi^+$, $pp\to np\pi^+$ and $pp\to pp\pi^0$ were measured at a beam momentum of 0.95 GeV/c ($T_p \approx$ 400 MeV) using the short version of the COSY-TOF spectrometer. The implementation of a central calorimeter provided particle identification, energy determination and neutron detection in addition to time-of-flight and angle measurements. Thus all pion production channels were recorded with 1-4 overconstraints. The total and differential cross sections obtained are compared to previous data and theoretical calculations. Main emphasis is put on the discussion of the $pp\pi^0$ channel, where we obtain angular distributions different from previous experimental results, however, partly in good agreement with recent phenomenological and theoretical predictions. In particular we observe very large anisotropies for the $\pi^0$ angular distributions in the kinematical region of small relative proton momenta revealing there a dominance of proton spinflip transitions associated with $\pi^0$ $s$- and $d$-partial waves and emphasizing the important role of $\pi^0$ d-waves.

Measurements of the total cross section have been performed at the ISR with c.m. energies between 23.5 GeV and 62.5 GeV. Two independent experimental methods have been applied, a measurement of total interaction rate and of small angle elastic scattering. Both experiments give consistent results showing that the total cross section increases by (11.8±1.5) % over the ISR energy range. This experiment has also measured the slope of the forward diffraction peak in elastic scattering at small momentum transfer. The elastic cross section shows the same relative rise as the total cross section, and the ratio λ of elastic to total cross section approaches a constant value of λ =0.178±0.003.

The properties of the diffractive peak observed in the mass spectra of systems recoiling against observed high-momentum protons emerging from pp collisions at the CERN ISR have been investigated. The cross sections in this peak have been found to have a steep t dependence which flattens out as | t | increases. The high mass side of the peak varies approximately as 1/ M 2 (where M is the missing mass of the recoiling system) and scales well in terms of the variable M 2 / s . The position of the maximum has been observed to move to lower values of M 2 / s as the kinematic boundary of this variable decreases with increasing s . The measured cross sections, integrated up to M 2 / s =0.05, rise by (15±5)% over the s range 549 to 1464 GeV 2 .

In a special run of the LHC with $\beta^\star = 2.5~$km, proton-proton elastic-scattering events were recorded at $\sqrt{s} = 13~$TeV with an integrated luminosity of $340~\mu \textrm{b}^{-1}$ using the ALFA subdetector of ATLAS in 2016. The elastic cross section was measured differentially in the Mandelstam $t$ variable in the range from $-t = 2.5 \cdot 10^{-4}~$GeV$^{2}$ to $-t = 0.46~$GeV$^{2}$ using 6.9 million elastic-scattering candidates. This paper presents measurements of the total cross section $\sigma_{\textrm{tot}}$, parameters of the nuclear slope, and the $\rho$-parameter defined as the ratio of the real part to the imaginary part of the elastic-scattering amplitude in the limit $t \rightarrow 0$. These parameters are determined from a fit to the differential elastic cross section using the optical theorem and different parameterizations of the $t$-dependence. The results for $\sigma_{\textrm{tot}}$ and $\rho$ are \begin{equation*} \sigma_{\textrm{tot}}(pp\rightarrow X) = \mbox{104.7} \pm 1.1 \; \mbox{mb} , \; \; \; \rho = \mbox{0.098} \pm 0.011 . \end{equation*} The uncertainty in $\sigma_{\textrm{tot}}$ is dominated by the luminosity measurement, and in $\rho$ by imperfect knowledge of the detector alignment and by modelling of the nuclear amplitude.