pp ELASTIC SCATTERING AT LHC AND NUCLEON STRUCTURE

High energy elastic pp scattering at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at c.m. energy 14 TeV is predicted using the asymptotic behavior of σtot(s) and ρ(s) known from dispersion relation calculations and the measured elastic $\bar{p}p$ differential cross-section at $\sqrt{s}=546~{\rm GeV}$. The effective field theory model underlying the phenomenological analysis describes the nucleon as having an outer cloud of quark–antiquark condensed ground state, an inner core of topological baryonic charge of radius ≃ 0.44 F and a still smaller valence quark-bag of radius ≲ 0.1 F. The LHC experiment TOTEM (Total and Elastic Measurement), if carried out with sufficient precision from |t| = 0 to |t| > 10 GeV2, will be able to test this structure of the nucleon.