The new parametrization of the Generalized Parton Distributions t-dependence is proposed. It allows one to reproduce sufficiently well the electromagnetic form factors of the proton and neutron at small and large momentum transfer. The description of the data obtained by the Rosenbluth method and the polarization method are compared. The results obtained by the latter method are shown to be compatible with the correspondent neutron data. The impact parameter dependence of the neutron charge density is examined. The quark contributions to gravitational form factors of the nucleons are obtained.

The following effects in the nearly forward ("soft") region of the LHC are proposed to be investigated:• At small |t| the fine structure of the cone (Pomeron) should be scrutinized: a) a break of the cone near t ≈ −0.1 GeV 2 , due to the two-pion threshold, and required by t-channel unitarity, and b) possible small-period oscillations between t = 0 and the dip region.• In measuring the elastic pp scattering and total pp cross section at the LHC, the experimentalists are urged to treat the total cross section σ t , the ratio ρ of real to imaginary part of the forward scattering amplitude, the forward slope B and the luminosity L as free parameters, and to publish model-independent results on dN/dt.• Of extreme interest are the details of the expected diffraction minimum in the differential cross section. Its position, expected in the interval 0.4 < −t < 1 GeV 2 at the level of about 10 −2 mb· GeV −2 ÷10 −1 mb· GeV −2 , cannot be predicted unambiguously, and its depth, i.e. the ratio of dσ/dt at the minimum to that at the subsequent maximum (about −t = 5 GeV 2 , which is about 5) is of great importance.• The expected slow-down with increasing |t| of the shrinkage of the second cone (beyond the dip-bump), together with the transition from an exponential to a power decrease in −t, will be indicative of the transition from "soft" to "hard" physics. Explicit models are proposed to help in quantifying this transition.• In a number of papers a limiting behavior, or saturation of the black disc limit (BDL), was predicted. This controversial phenomenon shows that the BDL may not be the ultimate limit, instead a transition from shadow to antishadow scattering may by typical of the LHC energy scale. 7 The rapidity coverage could be extended further by simple Forward Shower Counters (FSCs) placed at 60 to 140 meters from IP5.

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The Coulomb-hadron interference effects are examined at small and large The definition of the structure of the high energy elastic hadron-hadron scattering amplitude at small angles is a topical problem [2]. Such quantities as the total cross

We show that the data for the total cross section and for the real part of the elastic amplitude indicate the presence of a hard pomeron in pi p and Kp elastic scattering at t=0, compatible with that observed in deep inelastic scattering. We show that such a hard pomeron is also compatible with pp and pbar p data, provided one unitarises it at high energy.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, plain LaTeX, references added and typos remove