Vladislav Borchsh

We describe an analysis comparing the $p\overline{p}$ elastic cross section as measured by the D0 Collaboration at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV to that in $pp$ collisions as measured by the TOTEM Collaboration at 2.76, 7, 8, and 13 TeV using a model-independent approach. The TOTEM cross sections, extrapolated to a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=1.96\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$, are compared with the D0 measurement in the region of the diffractive minimum and the second maximum of the $pp$ cross section. The two data sets disagree at the $3.4\ensuremath{\sigma}$ level and thus provide evidence for the $t$-channel exchange of a colorless, $C$-odd gluonic compound, also known as the odderon. We combine these results with a TOTEM analysis of the same $C$-odd exchange based on the total cross section and the ratio of the real to imaginary parts of the forward elastic strong interaction scattering amplitude in $pp$ scattering for which the significance is between $3.4\ensuremath{\sigma}$ and $4.6\ensuremath{\sigma}$. The combined significance is larger than $5\ensuremath{\sigma}$ and is interpreted as the first observation of the exchange of a colorless, $C$-odd gluonic compound.

Abstract The TOTEM collaboration at the CERN LHC has measured the differential cross-section of elastic proton–proton scattering at $$\sqrt{s} = 8\,\mathrm{TeV}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msqrt> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>8</mml:mn> <mml:mspace /> <mml:mi>TeV</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> in the squared four-momentum transfer range $$0.2\,\mathrm{GeV^{2}}&lt; |t| &lt; 1.9\,\mathrm{GeV^{2}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0.2</mml:mn> <mml:mspace /> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>GeV</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.9</mml:mn> <mml:mspace /> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>GeV</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . This interval includes the structure with a diffractive minimum (“dip”) and a secondary maximum (“bump”) that has also been observed at all other LHC energies, where measurements were made. A detailed characterisation of this structure for $$\sqrt{s} = 8\,\mathrm{TeV}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msqrt> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msqrt> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>8</mml:mn> <mml:mspace /> <mml:mi>TeV</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> yields the positions, $$|t|_{\mathrm{dip}} = (0.521 \pm 0.007)\,\mathrm{GeV^2}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi>dip</mml:mi> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.521</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.007</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace /> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>GeV</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and $$|t|_{\mathrm{bump}} = (0.695 \pm 0.026)\,\mathrm{GeV^2}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> <mml:mo>|</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mi>bump</mml:mi> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.695</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.026</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace /> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>GeV</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , as well as the cross-section values, $$\left. {\mathrm{d}\sigma /\mathrm{d}t}\right| _{\mathrm{dip}} = (15.1 \pm 2.5)\,\mathrm{{\mu b/GeV^2}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mfenced> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mi>σ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:mfenced> <mml:mi>dip</mml:mi> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>15.1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2.5</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace /> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>b</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>GeV</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> and $$\left. {\mathrm{d}\sigma /\mathrm{d}t}\right| _{\mathrm{bump}} = (29.7 \pm 1.8)\,\mathrm{{\mu b/GeV^2}}$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mfenced> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mi>σ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:mi>d</mml:mi> <mml:mi>t</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:mfenced> <mml:mi>bump</mml:mi> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>29.7</mml:mn> <mml:mo>±</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.8</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mspace /> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>μ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>b</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mi>GeV</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> , for the dip and the bump, respectively.