The rise of total, elastic and inelastic hadronic cross sections at high energies is investigated by means of an analytical parametrization, with the exponent of the leading logarithm contribution as a free fit parameter. Using derivative dispersion relations with one subtraction, two different fits to proton-proton and antiproton-proton total cross section and ρ parameter data are developed, reproducing well the experimental information in the energy region 5 GeV-7 TeV. The parametrization for the total cross sections is then extended to fit the elastic (integrated) cross section data in the same energy region, with satisfactory results. From these empirical results we extract the energy dependence of several physical quantities: inelastic cross section, ratios elastic/total, inelastic/total cross sections, ratio total-cross-section/elasticslope, elastic slope and optical point. All data, fitted and predicted, are quite well described. We find a statistically consistent solution indicating: (1) an increase of the hadronic cross sections with the energy faster than the logsquared bound by Froissart and Martin; (2) asymptotic limits 1/3 and 2/3 for the ratios elastic/total and inelastic/total cross sections, respectively; a result in agreement with unitarity. These indications corroborate recent theoretical arguments by Azimov on the rise of the total cross section.

We describe the main features of recent LHC data on elastic pp scattering through a simple parametrization to the amplitude, inspired by a model proposed by Barger and Phillips in 1973, comprising of two exponentials with a relative phase. Despite its simplicity, this parameterization reproduces two essential aspects of the elastic differential cross section, the well known precipitous descent in the forward direction and a sharp 'dip' structure. To include a complete description of data sets near −t = 0, we correct the original parametrization. We examine two possibilities, the presence of the two-pion threshold singularity or a multiplicative factor reflecting the proton form factor. We find good descriptions of LHC7 and ISR data in either case. The form factor model allows simple predictions for higher energies through asymptotic theorems and asymptotic sum rules in impact parameter space. We present predictions for this model at higher LHC energies, which can be used to test whether asymptotia is reached. The black disk limit in this model is seen to be reached only for √ s ∼ 10 6 T eV .

We show that the onset and rise of QCD mini-jets provide the dynamical mechanism behind the appearance of a soft edge in pp collisions around ISR energies and thus such a soft edge is built in our mini-jet model with soft gluon re-summation. Here the model is optimized for LHC at √ s = 7, 8 T eV and predictions made for higher LHC and cosmic ray energies. Further, we provide a phenomenological picture to discuss the breakup of the total cross section into its elastic, uncorrelated and correlated inelastic pieces in the framework of a one-channel eikonal function.

An almost model-independent parametrization for the ratio of the total cross section to the elastic slope, as function of the center of mass energy, is introduced. The analytical result is based on the approximate relation of this quantity with the ratio R of the elastic to total cross section and empirical fits to the R data from proton-proton scattering above 10 GeV, under the conditions of asymptotic unitarity and the black-disk limit. This parametrization may be useful in studies of extensive air showers and the determination of the proton-proton total cross section from proton-air production cross section in cosmic-ray experiments.PACS numbers: 13.85.-t, 13.85.TpTo be published in Nuclear Physics A

The energy dependence of the total hadronic cross section at high energies is investigated with focus on the recent experimental result by the TOTEM Collaboration at 7 TeV and the Froissart-Martin bound. On the basis of a class of analytical parametrization with the exponent γ in the leading logarithm contribution as a free parameter, different variants of fits to pp andpp total cross section data above 5 GeV are developed. Two ensembles are considered, the first comprising data up to 1.8 TeV, the second also including the data collected at 7 TeV. We shown that in all fit variants applied to the first ensemble the exponent is statistically consistent with γ = 2. Applied to the second ensemble, however, the same variants yield γ's above 2, a result already obtained in two other analysis, by U. Amaldi et al. and by the UA4/2 Collaboration. As recently discussed by Ya. I. Azimov, this faster-than-squared-logarithm rise does not necessarily violate unitarity. Our results suggest that the energy dependence of the hadronic total cross section at high energies still constitute an open problem. PACS numbers: 13.85.-t Hadron-induced high-and super-high-energy interactions, 13.85.Lg Total cross sections, 11.10.Jj Asymptotic problems and properties