Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at High Energies and Large Angles, and the Incoherent Droplet Model
Roland E. Wilcox, Justin C. Huang · Physical Review · 1969
A study has been made of the elastic proton-proton scattering at high energies and large angles, using a model first proposed by K. Huang. This model decomposes a proton during collision into $N$ subunits and recombines them after collision in an incoherent combinatorial manner. The technique used is more general than the asymptotic methods used by Huang in obtaining the probabilities for the final states. The new procedure allows us to extend the range of validity for the model, since asymptotic expansions are no longer used. The analysis is limited to spinless protons, and to regions of high energy where there exists no discontinuity in the shape of the angular distribution such as was found by Allaby et al. around ${P}_{L}=8 \mathrm{to} 11$ BeV/c. The theoretical curves are in good agreement with the experimental results from ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{\mathrm{c}.\mathrm{m}.}=65\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} \mathrm{to} 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ and ${P}_{L}=14 \mathrm{to} 27$ BeV/c, while the asymptotic expressions are in good agreement only from around 76\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}. The experimentally observed quenching of large-momentum-transfer states as the energy increases is reproduced.