Measurement of differential cross sections for single diffractive dissociation in root s=8 TeV pp collisions using the ATLAS ALFA spectrometer

Journal article

A dedicated sample of Large Hadron Collider proton-proton collision data at centre-of-mass energy s√ = 8 TeV is used to study inclusive single diffractive dissociation, pp → X p. The intact final-state proton is reconstructed in the ATLAS ALFA forward spectrometer, while charged particles from the dissociated system X are measured in the central detector components. The fiducial range of the measurement is −4.0 < log10ξ < −1.6 and 0.016 < |t| < 0.43 GeV2, where ξ is the proton fractional energy loss and t is the squared four-momentum transfer. The total cross section integrated across the fiducial range is 1.59 ± 0.13 mb. Cross sections are also measured differentially as functions of ξ, t, and ∆η, a variable that characterises the rapidity gap separating the proton and the system X . The data are consistent with an exponential t dependence, dσ/dt ∝ eBt with slope parameter B = 7.65 ± 0.34 GeV−2. Interpreted in the framework of triple Regge phenomenology, the ξ dependence leads to a pomeron intercept of α(0) = 1.07 ± 0.09.

Authors: Aad, G; Abbott, B; Abbott, DC; Abdinov, O; Abed Abud, A

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer
• Journal: Journal of High Energy Physics
• Volume: 2020
• Issue: 2
• Article number: 42
• Publication date: 2020-02-06
• Acceptance date: 2020-01-23
• DOI: 10.1007/JHEP02(2020)042
• EISSN: 1029-8479
• ISSN: 1126-6708
• Keywords: QCD; Hadron-Hadron scattering (experiments); forward physics; diffraction; FFR