pp elastic scattering at LHC in near forward direction

Abstract We predict pp elastic differential cross section at LHC at the c.m. energy s = 14  TeV and momentum transfer range | t | = 0 – 10  GeV 2 , which is planned to be measured by the TOTEM group. The field theory model underlying our phenomenological investigation describes the nucleon as a composite object with an outer cloud of quark–antiquark condensate, an inner core of topological baryonic charge, and a still smaller quark-bag of valence quarks. The model satisfactorily describes the asymptotic behavior of σ tot ( s ) and ρ ( s ) as well as the measured p ¯ p elastic d σ / d t at s = 546  GeV , 630 GeV, and 1.8 TeV. The large | t | elastic amplitude of the model incorporates the BFKL pomeron in next to leading order approximation, the perturbative dimensional counting behavior, and the confinement of valence quarks in a small region within the nucleon.