Studies of elastic p–p polarization and differential cross section in a simple parton scattering model

We report here the results of an analysis of p–p elastic polarization and differential cross section data in the framework of a constitutent scattering model where the sharp breaks in the fixed-angle cross section and the growth of polarization with increasing four-momentum transfer −t are attributed to a varying number of constituent scatterings in the different ∣t∣ regions. On the assumption that over the range ∣t∣≤1.0 (GeV/c)2 the scattering process is dominated by a single parton in each of the colliding protons scattering only once, then for the next well defined ∣t∣ region as determined by the cross section shape we find that the data is consistent with two partons on average participating in the collision, or that one parton in one proton double scatters from partons in the other proton. Moreover, for the next distinct region on average three or more parton-parton scatters occur. The overall growth of the polarization with ∣t∣ follows from the addition of the polarization in the individual parton-parton scatterings. This analysis suggests that these features of p–p elastic scattering may surprisingly be due to standard low ∣t∣ high energy processes, and that polarization effects may prove to be an enormously useful tool in exploring what actually happens in the p–p scattering process, even at the constituent level.